HISTORICAL SKET<MIES 



OF THE 



DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT, 



AND 



PROGRESS OF EVENTS 



IN THE 



COOS COUNTRY AND VICINITY, 



PRINCIPALLY INCLUDED 



BETWEEN THE YEARS 1754 AND 1785 



BY REV. GRANT POWERS, A.M., C.H.S. 



HAVERHILL, N. H. 

PUBLISHED BY J. F. C. HAYES. 

1841. 



U 4 ^' 



District of Connecticut^ ss. 
Be it remembered, that on the ninth day of March, A.U, 
1840, Grant Powers, of the said district, hath deposited ia 
this office tJie title of a book, the title of which is in the words 
following, to wit : — 

" Historical Sketches of the Discovery, Settlement, and 
Progress of Events in the Coos Country and Vicinity, princi- 
pally included between the years 1754 and 1785. By Rev 
Grant Powers, A. M., C. H. S." 

The right whereof he claims as author, in conformity with 
an act of Congress, entitled " An act to amend the several 
acts respecting copj rights." 

CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 
Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 

District of Connecticut, ss. 
The foregoing is a true copy of the original record of copy 
right, recorded March 9th, A. D. 1840, 

ittest, CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 

Clerk of the District. 

A true copy of copy right. 

GRANT POWERS. 



STEREOTYPED BY 
MORRILL, SILSBY, & CO. CONCORD, N. H. 



PREFACE. 

'***'©^®*«« 

The history of our nation is peculiar in a number 
of things, but in none more than in this — that it re- 
cords its own origin. There is no other nation that 
daes this, the Jews excepted. No one of the present 
nations of Europe can tell us a word of their earliest 
ancestors, or even specify the century in which their 
territory was first taken possession of by them, but 
all is involved in obscurity as are the years before the 
flood. But it is far different with our early history as 
a nation. We know the men who said they would be 
free, and who laid the foundation of this mighty re- 
public. We know whence they came, the object for 
-which they cam-e, the spot to which they came, and 
the year, the month, and the day they took possession. 
Our nation owes a lasting debt of gratitude to our 
ancestors for their fidelity in recording the incipient 
steps taken by th^m in settling this new \\orld. But 
with regret must we say that their descendants soon 
began to relax in their fidelity in this respect, and they 
continued to decline.^ until their delinquency was al- 
most entire. It may well be doubted, whether more 
than one half of the towns in New England have any 
well-authenticated history of their early settlement, 
and had not the attention of the people been called to 
this subject by recently organized Historical Societies, 
and centennial addresses, a very few years had buried 



IV PREFACE. 

all in oblivion with those towns w^hose history was not 
already recorded. There seems, truly, an anomaly 
in the human character, inasmuch as man delights to 
retrace the line of his descent to his remotest ancestry, 
and has a strong passion to live in the memory of his 
descendants, and yet possesses very little inclination to 
do any thing directly to furnish the means to his pos- 
terity of knowing that he ever existed. 

One reason for the indifference manifested towards 
recording present events, is the general impression that 
they can have no important bearing upon what is to 
come, unless they are such events as greatly interest 
the community in present time — the result of a great 
battle, a revolution in a kingdom, or a destructive 
earthquake. But nothing is more delusive than such 
an impression. What would the inhabitants of the 
city of London now give for the year, the month, and 
day, in which the first man pitched his tent on that 
ground ? What would they give if they could know 
his name, his origin, whence he came, the circum- 
Ftances in w^hich he ctime, the object for his coming, 
and, withal, a minute description of the place as it 
then was ? An octavo pamphlet of ten pages, con- 
taining well-authenticated facts of this kind, would be 
worth millions sterling to the author or proprietor. 
And the history of our ancestors' landing at Plymouth 
is infinitely more important in our history than the 
history of the surrender of Burgoyne's army, or that 
of Cornwallis. And even those occurrences which 
do not seem to stand intimately connected w^ith any 
great results, time will often vest with peculiar interest, 
in the view of posterity. How unhappy is the refiec- 



PREFACE. V 

lion, then, that the early settlement of our towns 
should be permitted to be forever lost through the apa- 
thy or indifference of their inhabitants, since the time 
will certainly arrive when the subject will be duly ap- 
preciated, and our descendants will reproach us for 
our stupidity and sloth in this respect ! 

It was in view of these and kindred considerations, 
that the author of the following Sketches commenced, 
sixteen years ago, visiting the survivors among the first 
settlers in the Coos country, and in some towns in the 
vicinity. He was careful to take down their state- 
ments in their presence, and they were interrogated 
upon almost all subjects here introduced. Some made 
further communications unt^ir their own hand-writing, 
and he has obtained written and published documents, 
as far as he was able, to aid him in this work. But as 
it has been his main design to go back of written and 
published documents, and to bring to light things 
which would never have appeared, unless they were 
taken up in a work of this kind, he could avail him- 
self of those documents but in a limited degrree : and 
in general, they are introduced as corroborative testi- 
mony, or explanatory, merely. But he fears he has 
already raised, by his remarks, expectations which he 
will by no means be able to satisfy ; and yet he has 
done what he could with his means. He could not 
create means, and yet had procured so many, that he 
could hardly feel justified in permitting them to perish 
with himself It will be perceived that he writes 
things grave, things trivial, and things important, and 
this with a view to present as nearly as possible, to 
the present and future generations, the circumstances. 



Tl PREFACE. 

views, feelings, habits and customs of our ances- 
tors. 

Before he concludes these remarks, he beofs leave 
to suggest what he views to be important for every 
family, and for every town in this nation. 1. Let 
every family obtain as full and as correct a record of 
their ancestry as is now possible, and every child take 
a copy, and make additions as time furnishes the means 
2. Let every town have its stated historian, who shall 
delight in his duty, whose object will be to collect 
facts of the aged, and by all other means which Pro- 
vidence may afford him ; and to record passing events 
of an interesting nature. Let this record be examined 
annually by the town authorities and certified by the 
town clerk, and then preserved in the archives of the 
town. Extracts from these documents might furnish 
annually interesting materials in every state for a vol- 
ume of Historical Collections. And these volumes 
would in a few years furnish matter for the richest 
history that ever was possessed by a nation on earth 
He suggests it to his brethren in the ministry, of all 
denominations, to aid in this cause. No class of men 
in the community enjoy so many facilities for making 
such a record — none would derive more benefit from 
it, and it is by no means foreign to their appropriate 
duties. Brethren, think of it ; think seriously, and 

then act. 

GRANT POWERS. 

Goshen, Ct., Jan. 1st, 1840. 



LIST OF AUTHORITIES 

AMOSQ THE FIRST SETTLERS USED IN THESB SKETCHES. 

Col. Joshua Howard. 
Hon. James Woodward. 
Hon. Ezekiel Ladd. 
Mrs. Ruth Ladd. 
Mr. Charles Wheeler. 
Mrs. Annis Wheeler. 
Mr. John Page. 
Mrs. Ruth Johnston. 
Col. Joshua Bailey. 
Mrs. Mary Kent. 
Mr. Jonathan Tyler. 
Andrew B. Peters, Esq. 
John Mann, Esq. 
Col. Otis Freeman, Esq. 
Rev. Asa Burton, D. D. 
Mr. Richard Wallace. 
Mr. Joel Strong. 
Col. Jonathan Elkins. 

OTHER AIDS. 
Belknap's History of New Hampshire. 
Gazetteer of New Hampshire. 
Gazetteer of Vermont. 
Eastman's History of Vermont. 
Marshall's Life of Washington. 
Capt. Powers' Journal. 
Rev. Jared Sparks' certified Copies. 
David Johnson^s Letters and Extracts. 
Rev. Clark Perry's Sketches. 
John Farmer's Extracts. 
Mrs. Abigail Cross. 
Mrs. Hannah Pearson. 
Mrs. Sally Johnston. 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

OF THE 

COOS COUNTRY AND VICINITY, 

So late as 1760, there was no settlement by 
the English, in the Connecticut Valley, above 
the town of Charlestown, in New Hampshire, 
which was then called "No. 4." Nor were 
there more than three towns settled south of 
Charlestown, in the valley within the present 
limits of New Hampshire. Hinsdale, or '^ Fort 
Dummer," was settled in 1683. Westmoreland, 
or " No. 2," was settled in 1741 ; Walpole in 
1752. 

These towns, with the exception of Walpole, 
were all settled by Massachusetts men ; for, 
until 1741, it was supposed the north line of 
Massachusetts would include these towns. 

At Hinsdale and Charlestown, forts were built 
at an early period of their settlement, and sol- 
diers were stationed there for the double purpose 
of affording protection to the settlers, and arrest- 
ing the progress of the Indians from Canada, 



10 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

while meditating incursions upon the frontier 
towns in Massachusetts. 

And so little interest did New Hampshire feel 
in the settlement of the Connecticut Valley , 
which has been very justly denominated the 
'' Garden of New England," that in 1745, when 
the Governor recommended to the Assembly of 
New Hampshire the taking and sustaining their 
newly-acquired '' Fort Dummerj" which fell to 
them upon the establishment of the line between 
the two colonieSj the lower House declined the 
acceptance of this place and that of "No. 4 ;'' 
alleging that the fort was fifty miles distant 
from any towns settled by New Hampshire ; 
that they did not own the territory ; and that 
they were unequal to the expense of maintaining 
those places. 

Noljvas it until 1T52, that the Governor of 
New ilampshire was permitted to adopt any 
measures to secure to that colony this invaluable 
tract of country. He then made several grants 
of townships on both sides of the Connecticut 
River, and a plan was laid for taking possession 
of the '' Rich Meadows of Cohos,"* of which 
they had heard by hunters and captives returned. 

The original design was to cut a road from 
''No. 4" to the Cohos; to lay out two town- 

* Coo3 waa spelt Cohos and Cowass by our anceetors. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRf. ll 

ships, one on each side of the river, and opposite 
to each other, where Haverhill and Newbury 
now are. They were to erect stockades, with 
lodgements for two hundred men, in each town- 
ship, enclosing a space of fifteen acres ; in the 
centre of which was to be a citadel, containing 
the public buildings and granaries, which were 
to be large enough to receive all the inhabitants 
and their movable effects, in case of necessity. 
As an inducement for people to remove to this 
new plantation, they were to have courts of 
judicature, and other civil privileges, among 
themselves, and were to be under strict military 
discipline. 

^' In pursuance of this plan," says Dr. Belknap, 
vol. ii. p. 215, ''a party was sent up, in the spring 
of 1752, to view the meadows of Cohos, and lay 
out the proposed townships." It seems that this 
project embraced the two objects of possessing 
the Cohos country, and establishing a military 
post there. It was to be partly civil and partly 
military, and a number of adventurers were 
about to enlist in the enterprise. But the whole 
p>lan was defeated by the timely remonstrance 
of the Indians of the St. Francis tribe. And 
notwithstanding Mr. Belknap says, ^' A party was 
sent up, in the spring of 1752, to view the mea- 
dows of Cohos, and lay out the proposed town- 



12 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

ships/' it is extremely doubtful whether that 
party ever reached their destination, if they ever 
left "No. 4." There were no returns made of 
this tour. They certainly did not lay out the 
townships. And we find in the Life of General 
Stark, that in 1754, the General Court of New 
Hampshire determined to send a party to explore 
this ^^ hitherto unknoion region^''^ referring to the 
Cohos country. 

NoWj if this country had been explored by 
the party of 1752, it could not have been called 
the ^^ hitherto unexplored region*' in 1754, seeing 
that, in each instance, the General Court is re- 
presented as the principal mover in those explor- 
ing parties. And by the kindness of the late 
Mr. Farmer, of Concord, N. H., I have been 
furnished with the extract from Col. Israel Wil- 
liams' letter, to which Dr. Belknap refers for his 
authority in saying what he does of the explor- 
ing party of 1752. And with the additional 
evidence which has been obtained upon these 
transactions since Dr. Belknap's time, I should 
feel that Col. Williams' letter was insufficient to 
authorize the assertion, that a party was actually 
sent into the Cohos country in 1752. It is but 
a mere allusion to such a thing, or to such an 
intention. 

The letter of Col. Williams was written to 



OF TUE COOS COUNTRY. 13 

the Governor of Massachusetts, dated at Hat- 
field, 19 March, 1753, and speaks of "our people 
going to take a view of the Cowass meadows 
last spring." This by no means says they did 
go to view them — but were '' going," or were 
preparing to go, and view them. And doubtless 
this was fact. A party might hdve been sent on 
by the Governor as far as "No. 4," and even 
farther ; but the Indians remonstrating and 
threatening, they relinquished their object. Dr. 
Belknap states that the Indians came to "No. 4," 
and made this threat ; that it was communicated 
to the Governor of Massachusetts, and he sent 
the information to the Governor of New Hamp- 
shire, and the project was laid aside. The only 
discrepancy in all this testimony is found in Dr. 
Belknap's understanding Col. Williams to say 
that the party of 1752 did go into the Cohos 
country, when he did not say it ; and as the 
evidence is now exhibited, we must think he 
did not mean to say it. 

But notwithstanding this project of exploring 
the Cohos from " No. 4 " was suspended, yet the 
Governor and House of Assembly did by no 
means abandon the idea of a future possession 
of those meadows, and events hastened their at- 
tempt to explore and possess the Cohos country. 

In the spring of 1752, John Stark, afterward 
2 



14 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

General Stark, Amos Eastman^ afterward oi 
HoUis, N. H., David Stinsoiij of Londonderry r 
and William Stark, were hunting upon Baker's 
River, in the town of Rmnney. They were 
surprised by a party of ten Indians. John Stark 
and Amos Eastman were taken prisoners, Stinson 
\vas killed, and William Stark escaped by flight. 
John Stark and Eastman were carried into cap- 
tivity to the head-quarters of the St. Francis 
tribe in Canada, and were led directly through 
the '' Meadows,*' so much talked of in Massa- 
chusetts and New Hampshire. 

These men returned from their captivity in 
the summer of 1753, and gave an interesting 
account of Cokos ; and as the country was ex- 
pecting that the War with the French and In- 
dians would soon be renewed, and that the 
French would be desirous of taking the Cohos 
country for a military post, the General Court of 
New Hampshire determined to send a company 
to explore the region ; not to attempt to ascend 
the Connecticut from "No. 4," but to pursue the 
track of the Indians as they came from the great 
valley to Baker's River and the Pemigewasset, 
and returned again with their prisoners. 

Accordingly, in the spring of 1754, Col. Love- 
well, Maj. Tolford, and Capt. Page, were sent 
out at the head of a company, with John Stark 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 15 

for their guide. They left Concord, March 10, 
1754, and in seven days made Connecticut River 
at Piermont. They spent but one night in the 
valley, and made a precipitate retreat to Co»cord, 
at vvrhich place they arrived on the thirteenth 
day from their departure.* 

The cause of this failure to explore the region 
to which they were sent, I have not learned ; 
but that it was a failure, we must know — for 
one night spent in the woods at Piermont could 
have returned to the government no information 
concerning the Coos meadows. The probability 
was, they feared an Indian foe superior to their 
own force. 

But the government was not discouraged by 
this failure, and the same season, 1754, Capt. 
Peter Powers, of Hollis, N. H., Lieut. James 
Stevens, and Ensign Ephraim Hale, both of 
Townsend, Mass., were appointed to march at 
the head of a company to effect, if possible, what 
had hitherto been attempted in vain. The com- 
pany rendezvoused at Concord, which was then 
called Rumford, and commenced their tour on 
Saturday, June 15, 1754 

It may not be improper to state in this place, 
that there is no record of this tour in the state 
papers of that day, and no reference to it in any 

* Stark's Life. 



16 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

papers of subsequent date, as I can learn. The 
evidence of its having been performed consists, 
at this day, in the tradition among the descend- 
ants of Capt. Powers, that he was the first to 
explore the Coos country, and in his manuscript 
journal kept by himself during his tour, recently 
found among papers on file, preserved by the 
late Samson Powers, of HoUis, youngest son of 
the said Peter Powers. I have also the same 
tin safe, of ample dimensions, which contained 
his journal, and a piece of his tent-cloth which 
was spread over him at night, on this very ex- 
pedition. 

The only rational explanation that can be 
given for the silence of all public records in re- 
lation to this exploring tour, may be found in the 
loose manner in which such things were trans- 
acted at that day, and in the commotion which 
immediately followed Capt. Powers' return ; for 
already war was renewed in Europe between 
France and England, and the intelligence of it 
having reached Quebec, the Indians renewed 
their incursions upon our frontier towns, and 
made a descent upon Boscawen a few days after 
the return of the exploring company. This sus- 
pended all further thought of settling the Coos 
country during the war that was then raging, 
and Capt. Powers' report was not called for, or 



or THE COOS COUNTRY. 1/ 

It was lost during that war, or the war of the 
Revolution, which followed hard upon the resto- 
ration of peace between Prance and England. 

Capt. Powers' journal is not entire — some 
pages of the returning expedition are lost, and, 
probably, some prefatory remarks. I should 
think, also, that it is not as full in description 
as he would have returned to government, but 
general facts noted to enable him to make out a 
correct statement in things essential ; and, final- 
ly, it is an interesting document of antiquity, and 
must be «o, especially, to the people of Coos, 
who have for a long time felt an earnest desire to 
know who first explored that part of the Great 
Valley, I shall give the journal as it is found, 
only correcting some of the orthography, and 
offering some explanation in notes. 

JOURNAL. 

''Saturday, June 15th, 1754. Tiiis day left 
Rumford," (now Concord,)- and marched to 
Contoocook, which is about eight miles, and 
here tarried all night." 

[The original Indian name of Concord was 
Penacooic. Prom 1733, it bore the name of 
Rumford, until 1762, and then took the name 
Concord.] 

2* 



18 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

'•^ Sunday ^ June 16th. This day tarried at 
Contoocook, and went to meeting, and tarried 
here all this night." 

[Contoocook was present Boscawen. The Rev. 
Phinehas Stevens was minister in this place at 
that time.] 

^^ Monday, June \7th. This morning fair 
weather, and we fixed our packs, and went and 
put them on board our canoes, about nine of the 
clock, and some of the men went in the canoes, 
and the rest on the shore. And so we marched 
up the River Merrimack to the crotch, or parting 
thereof; and then up the Pemigewasset about 
one mile and a half, and camped above the car- 
rying-place, which carrying-place is about one 
hundred rods long ; and the whole of this day's 
march is thirteen miles. 

'' Tuesday, June iSth. This day marched 
up the Pemigewasset River, about eight miles, to 
Smith's River, and then east one hundred rods, 
and then north, two hundred and twenty rods, 
to the long carrying-place on Pemigewasset Ri- 
ver, and there camped." 

[This encampment, I think, must have been 
on or near the present line which divides Bristol 
from New-Chester upon the Pemigewasset. It 
might be interesting to the present inhabitants 
of those towns to mark out the spot which was 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 19 

thus occupied by swords and bristling bayonets 
in 1754, whilst the whole country around re- 
mained an unbroken wilderness. And what may 
be true in this case, may be true of others in re- 
spect to all places hereafter to be named by tho 
exploring party.] 

" Wednesday y June 19th. We marched on 
our journey, and carried across the long carrying- 
place on Pemigewasset River two miles north- 
east, which land hath a good soil, beech and 
maple, with a good quantity of large masts. 
From the place where we put in the canoes, we 
steered east, north-east, up the river about one 
mile, and then we steered north-east one mile, 
and north six miles up to Sawheganet Falls, 
where we carried by about four rods ; and from 
the falls we steered about north-east, to Pemige- 
wasset interval, two miles, and from the begin- 
ning of the interval we made good our course 
north four miles, and there camped on a narrow 
point of land. The last four miles the river 
was extremely crooked. 

" Thursday, June 20th. We steered our 
course, one turn with another, which were great 
turns, west, north-west, about two miles and a 
half, to the crotch, or parting of the Pemigewas- 
set River, at Baker's River mouth ; thence from 
the mouth of Baker's River, up said river, north- 



20 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

west by west, six miles. This river is extraor- 
dinary crooked, and good interval. Tlience up 
the river about two miles north-west, and there 
we shot a moose, the sun about a half an hour 
high, and there camped." 

[This must have been in the town of Rum^ 
ney.] 

" Friday^ June ^\st. We steered up the said 
Baker's River with our canoes about five miles 
as the river ran, which was extraordinary crook- 
ed. In the after part of this day, there was a 
g:reat shower of ' haile and raine,'' which pre- 
vented our proceeding any further, and here we 
camped ; and here left our canoes, for the water 
in the river was so shoal that we could not go 
with them any further. 

'' ^aturdmj, June 22d. This morning was 
dai'k and cloudy weather ; but after ten of the 
clock, it cleared off hot, and we marched up the 
river near the Indian carrying-place, from Baker's 
River to Connecticut River, and there camped, 
and could not go any further by reason of a great 
shower of rain, which held almost all this after- 
noon. 

'' Sunday^ June 23d This morning dark and 
cloudy weather, and we marched up this river 
about one mile, and came to the Indian carrying- 
place, and, by reason of the dark weather, we 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 21 

were obliged to follow the marked way, that 
way marked by Major Lovewell and Capt. 
Tolford, and others, from Baker's River to Con- 
necticut River. And this day's march was but 
about six miles ; and we camped between the 
two first Baker Ponds. And it came on a great 
storm of rain, which prevented our marching 
any further. And on this day's march we saw 
a considerable quantity of white pine timber, 
and foun^ it was something large, fit for thirty- 
inch masts, as we judged. But before this day's 
march, we saw no white pine timber, that was 
very large, on this Baker's River, but a great 
quantity of small white pine, fit for boards and 
small masts. And on this river there is a great 
quantity of excellent interval, from the begin- 
ning of it to the place where we left this river. 
And it layeth of a pretty equal proportion from 
one end to the other ; and back of the inter- 
val, there is a considerable quantity of large 
mountains." 

[Those more familiarly acquainted with the 
serpentine course of Baker's River than the wri- 
ter, may fix on the several encampments in 
Rumney and Wentworth with tolerable accu- 
racy ; but we shall all agree that, at this last 
date, they were encamped between the Baker 
Ponds, lying in the north-east part of the present 



23 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

town of Orford. It is a little singular that it 
should not have been discovered until recently, 
that the south-western branch of Baker's River 
afforded greater facilities for communication be- 
tween the Connecticut Valley and Pemigewasset 
than those routs which have been hitherto im- 
proved, seeing the Indians had given their pre- 
ference to this south branch, and it was improved 
by the first English parties which explored the 
country.] 

'^ Monday, June 2Ath. This morning it rained 
hard, and all the night past, and it held raining 
all this day, and we kept our camp, and here we 
stayed the night ensuing, and it rained almost 
all night. 

" Tuesday, June 25th. This morning fkir 
weather, and we swung our packs, the sun about 
a half an hour high, and we marched along the 
carrying-place, or road marked, about two miles, 
and then steered our course north, twelve de- 
grees west, about twelve miles, and came to that 
part of the Coos interval that is called Moose 
Meadow. And then steered our course up the 
river by the side of the interval, about north- 
east, and came to a large stream that came into 
the interval, which is here about a mile wide. 
This stream came out of the east, and we camped 
here this night. There are on this river the 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 23 

best falls and conveniences for all sorts of mills. 
These falls are nearly twenty feet perpendicu- 
lar." 

[^' Moose Meadoiv^^ must have been the In- 
dian name for that part of Coos which they 
made first, and I am quite confident that some 
of the old people whom I consulted relative to 
the first settlements, called the meadow owned 
by Major Merrill, in Piermont, " Moose Meadow ;" 
but I have no minute of it, and as at that time 
I had no knowledge of this document, I was not 
particular to retain the locality of Moose Meadoic. 

But we at length find the company encamped 
upon the banks of the Oliverian in Haverhill, 
which river was then without a name, as well 
as Haverhill itself. They passed along, he says, 
''by the side of the interval" — that is, at the 
foot of the hill where the meadows commence. 
He says, the interval was '' here about a mile 
wide.''^ He meant on both sides of the river. 
He calls the Oliverian a ''large stream." The 
heavy rains, he has already described, rendered it 
such. The falls, I should think, were accurately 
described. He does not tell us on which side of 
the Oliverian he made his encampment ; probably 
south, upon the elevated platform formerly owned 
by Richard Gookin : or, if he crossed the river 
that night, he would select the dry spot where 



24 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Stands the dwelling-house of the late Capt. Jo- 
seph Pearson. Permit me, kind reader, to add 
a reflection. How dark is the future with all to 
whom God has not revealed what his future 
Providences shall be ! Capt. Powers, when he 
camped upon the banks of the Oliverian, must 
have marched in his meandering course at least 
seventy miles without seeing a human habita- 
tion ! And what had been his astonishment, if 
it had been revealed to him that night, that his 
first-born son should be the minister of a church 
and people in that place, in a less time than 
eleven years ; that he should sustain that relation 
nearly twenty years ; and that his grandson, 
by his own youngest son, should hold the same 
station about fifteen years, from the fifty-seventh 
to the seventy-second year after his decease ! 
This would have been an astounding vision, 
but no more than what time has fulfilled.] 

^^ Wednesday^ June 2Qth. This morning fair 
weather, and we marched up the interval to the 
great turn of clear interval, which is the upper- 
most part of the clear interval, on the westerly 
side of Connecticut River, and there came a 
great shower of rain, which held almost all this 
afternoon ; and we camped by the river on the 
easterly side, above all the clear interval ; and 
this day's march was about six miles, and very 
crooked." 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 25 

[It will appear, as we advance in these sketches, 
that the Little Ox Bow on Haverhill side, and 
the Great Ox Bow on Newbury side, were cleared 
interval when the first settlers came in. They 
had been cleared and cultivated to some extent 
by the Indians, and this is the fact to which the 
journal alludes. Their encampment was on the 
well-known Porter place.] 

*' Thursday^ June 27th. This morning it was 
cloudy weather, and it began to rain, the sun 
about an hour high, and we marched, notwith- 
standing, up the river to Amonoosuck River, 
and our course was about north, distance about 
five miles ; and we camped here, for the River 
Amonoosuck was so high we could not go over 
it without a canoe ; for it was swift water, and 
near twenty rods wide. This afternoon it cleared 
off fair, and we went about our canoe, and partly 
built it. Some of our men went up the River 
Amonoosuck, to see what discoveries they could 
make ; and they discovered excellent land, and 
a considerable quantity of large white pines. 

" Friday, June 28th. This morning fair wea- 
ther, and we went about the canoe, and completed 
the same by about twelve of the clock this day, 
and went over the river ; and we concluded to 
let the men go down the river in the canoe, 
who were not likely to perform the remaining 
3 



26 Historical sketches / 






part of the journey, by reason of sprains in th 
ankles, and weakness of body. They were four* 
in number : and we steered our course for the 
great interval about east, north-east ; and we 
this day inarched, after we left the river, about 
ten miles. And the land was exceedingly good 
upland, and some quantity of white pine, but 
not thick, but some of them fit for masts." 

[These four men, it would seem, were about 
to take their chance upon the river, and to re* 
turn by the way of Charlestown.] 
fi '^Saturday, June 29th. This morning was 
cloudy, but we swung our packs, and steered 
our course about north-east, ten miles, and 
came to Connecticut River. There it came on 
rainy, and we camped by the side of the river, 
and it rained all this afternoon, and we kept our 
camp all this night. The land was, this day's 
march, very good, and it may be said, as good 
as ever was seen by any of us. The common 
growth of wood was beech and maple, and not 
thick at all. It hath a great quantity of small 
brooks. This day and the day past, there were 
about three brooks fit for corn-mills ; and these 
were the largest of the brooks that we saw." 

[It seems that the march of the two last days 
was made between the valley of the Connecti- 
cut, and that of the Amonoosuck, upon the high 



op THE COOS COUNTRY. 27 

lands of Bath, Lyman, and Littleton, and we 
now find them encamped in the southern part 
of Dalton.] 

•' Sunday^ June 30th. This morning exceed- 
ing rainy weather, and it rained all the night 
past, and continued raining until twelve of the 
clock this day; and after that, it was fair wea- 
ther, and we marched along up Connecticut Ri- 
ver ; and our course we made good this day, was 
about five miles, east by north, and there came 
to a large stream, which came from the south- 
east. This river is about three rods wide, and 
we called it Starless River, by reason of Ensign 
John Stark's being found by the Indians at the 
mouth of this river. This river comes into the 
Connecticut at the foot of the upper intervaJ, and 
thence we travelled up the interval about seven 
miles, and came to a large river which came 
from the south-east ; and it is about five rods 
wide. Here we concluded to go no further with 
the full scout, by reason of our provisions being 
almost all spent ; and almost all our men had worn 
out their shoes. This river we called Poicers^ 
River, it being the camping place at the end of 
our journey ; and there we camped by the river.'' 

[It seems that John Stark had been taken 
twice by the Indians while on his hunting expe- 
ditions — once on Stark's River, and once on 



28 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Baker's River. The river which they named 
Stark's River runs through Dalton, and is now 
called John's River, because Stark's name was 
John, perhaps ; but I think they had better pre- 
served the original name, and this would have 
perpetuated a historical fact, and borne up a 
name that the whole town would delight to 
cherish among them ; but who is to know whe- 
ther this is John Stark's River, or John Smith's 
River, or any other John's River? The river 
they called Poioers^ River is in Lancaster, and 
is now called Israel's River. This, too, I think, 
ought to bear the name they gave it, instead of 
a wandering, and perhaps a worthless hunter. 
Capt. Powers was the first man of English de- 
scent, who ever visited that town for discovery. 
He did it in imminent peril, and for the good 
of his country. How much more gratifying it 
would be to the present inhabitants of that town, 
and to all future generations of theirs, did they 
bear upon their river the name of the first man 
who ever by authority discovered their town ! 
There has been much wrong in these things in 
many of our towns. Our worthy ancestors, who 
bore the toils and went through the perils of 
exploring and settling our forests, and of subdu- 
ing them, richly merited this cheap method of 
perpetuating a memorial of themselves. I do 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 29 

iiot attach blame to the people of Lancaster for 
this — for they may not know, to this day, that 
such a company ever visited their town, or that 
their river was ever formally named by persons 
under authority ; but these are the facts. There 
is no record in the journal of any transaction on 
the first day of July. It w£is probably spent in 
inactivity and rest.] 

'■ Tuesday^ July 2d. This morning fair wea- 
ther, and we thought proper to mend our shoes, 
and to return homeward ; and accordingly we 
went about the same ; and whilst the men were 
this way engaged, the captain, with two more 
of his men, marched up the river to see what 
further discoveries they could make, and they 
travelled about five miles, and there they dis- 
covered where the Indians had a large camping 
place, and had been making canoes, and had not 
been gone above one or two days at most ; and 
so they returned to the rest of the men again 
about twelve of the clock ; and then we return- 
ed, and marched down the river to Stark's River, 
and there camped. This afternoon it rained 
hard, but we were forced to travel for want of 
provisions. This interval is exceedingly large, 
and the farther up the larger. The general 
course of this river is from north-east by east, ag 
far as the interval extends*" 
3* 



30 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

[The captain and his two men penetrated, 
probably, as far as present Northumberland, and 
must have travelled nearly one hundred and forty 
miles after they left the habitations of civilized 
men. At Northumberland they first fell upon 
the trail of Indians, where they had, probably, 
been preparing themselves canoes to enable them 
to descend upon our frontier settlements.] 

'' Wednesday, July 3d. This morning cloudy 
weather, and thundered ; and after the sun an 
hour high, it rained hard, and continued about 
an hour, and then we swung packs, and steered 
our course west-south-west, aiming for Amonoo- 
suck River ; and this day we marched about 
fourteen miles, and camped." 

[Wfe shall perceive that, for the last twelve 
days of their march, the rain had fallen in unu- 
sual abundance for that season of the year ; and 
it would not be strange if they spoke of some 
small streams as larger than they are ordinarily 
found, especially since the clearing of the coun- 
try ; but as far as my knowledge extends, they 
were not far from present truth concerning them ; 
and as it regards distances, they were remarkably 
accurate, seeing they were in a wilderness, fol- 
lowed the course of streams, and did not carry a 
chain.] 

'' Thursday, July Mh. We marched on our 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 31 

course west-south-west, and this day we marched 
about twenty miles, and camped." 

[This was the day on which the Delegates 
from six of the Colonies signed, at Albany, arti- 
cles of union for mutual government and defence, 
anticipating the renewal of war between France 
and England, '^ exactly twenty-two years before 
the declaration of American independence." — 
Belknap.] 

^^ Friday^ July 5th. We marched about 
three miles to our packs at Amonoosuck, the 
same course we had steered heretofore ; and we 
afterwards went over Connecticut River, and 
looked up Wells' River, and camped a little be- 
low Wells' River this night," 

[At the west end of the bridge, perhaps, lead- 
ing from Haverhill to Wells' River.] 

" Saturday, July 6th. Marched down the 
great river to Great Coos, and crossed the river 
below the great turn of clear interval, and there 
left the great river, and steered south by east 
about three miles, and there camped. Here was 
the best of upland, and some quantity of large 
white pines." 

[I think they crossed into Haverhill at the 
^'Dow Farm," so called, and the three miles 
brought them to Haverhill Corner, and their de- 
scription of it answers to the description given 



32 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

by the first settlers. I would say to the people 
of Haverhill Corner, that eighty-five years ago, 
on the sixth of July last, (1839,) your Common 
was the encampment of an exploring company, 
sent out by the government of England ; that 
this company felt themselves surrounded by a 
vast wilderness ; and, while the towering trees 
of the forest formed their canopy, they confided 
in their own vigilance and prowess, under God, 
to protect them from beasts of prey and savage 
men. Well may you exclaim, while in your 
ceiled houses, and while surveying from your 
windows your ample fields and meadows, What 
hath God loroiight !] 

I must inform the reader that, at this point of 
time, the journal ceases to speak of their home- 
ward march, and no trace of the remainder can 
be found. We are left to suppose that they re- 
traced their steps the way they came, with hos- 
tile Indians pressing hard in their rear ; for we 
leaxn from Belknap, that by the fifteenth of Au* 
gust, of that year, they were at Bakerstown and 
vicinity, (now Salisbury,) killing and taking cap- 
tive the inhabitants. 

From this time until the fall of (Quebec into 
the possession of the British in 1759, no more 
efforts were made to discover and settle new ter- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 33 

ritories, but every man had as much as he could 
do to retain what he ah*eady had in possession. 
Nor does it appear that any steps were taken 
towards the settlement of the Connecticut Val- 
ley in 1760 ; for our men were still employed in 
Canada in gathering up the fragments of the 
French armies which were stationed in different 
places, and had not as yet surrendered to the 
English. But in 1761, when the Colonies no 
longer feared the incursions of the French and 
Indians upon their frontier towns, the spirit of 
emigration from the older settlements, and of 
extending their possessions, revived, and sur- 
passed all that had been before witnessed. Men 
from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New 
Hampshire were now preparing to transplant 
themselves into the then great western valley 
of the Connecticut, and the Governor of New 
Hampshire did not let slip the golden oppor- 
tunity of filling his coffers. In every town- 
ship granted to petitioners, five hundred acres 
of land were reserved for the Governor, without 
fees or charges, and he was well rewarded by 
petitioners for his services. No less than sixty 
townships were granted on the west side of Con- 
necticut River, and eighteen on the east side, in 
the year 1761. At this time. New Hampshire 
claimed all the land west to New York line. 



34 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

The reason which Mr. Belknap gives for the 
great rush into the Connecticut Yalley at this 
time isj that the continual passing of troops 
through these lands during the war, caused the 
value of them to be more generally known. 
This was undoubtedly true, especially after the 
successes of the English at Ticonderoga, Crown 
Point, and in Canada, in 1759. There was then 
no danger to be apprehended from the enemy, 
and it is not reasonable to suppose that Massa- 
chusetts and New Hampshire men, returning 
from those successful campaigns, would make 
the tour of Lake Champlain and North River to 
Albany, rather than cross the highlands of Ver- 
mont, and descend the Connecticut River, a tour 
which some of them must have previously made 
while captives to the French and Indians. 

This fact, in connection with Capt. Powers' 
journal of an earlier date by some years, con- 
vinces me that the traditionary tales which have 
been so long rife in the Coos country, that their 
fathers were indebted for the discovery of their 
country to Major Rogers' famished men, as they 
fled from the infuriated Indians of the St. Fran- 
cis tribe in 1759, are all apocryphal. The truth 
is, when Major Rogers disbanded his men for 
their greater safety, he appointed them to ren- 
dezvous at the Upper Coos, says Belknap ; which 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 



35 



could not have been done, if the place had not 
been known. Some of Rogers' men, no doubt, 
made the Coos, and some passed through it, 
whilst others there perished, whose remains were 
found by the first settlers ; but those who sur- 
vived that disastrous retreat were the last men in 
the world to give a description of the country- 
through which they passed, whilst hunger, like 
an armed man, was threatening them with disso- 
lution at every step. 

The tradition, that speaks of a company of 
men sent up the river as far as Coos, for the re- 
lief of Rogers' men, and of their returning just 
when Rogers' men came up to witness the yet 
living embers of the fires they had left behind 
them, must also be fabulous. Rogers left Crown 
Point with two hundred rangers on the thirteenth 
of September, 1759, to destroy the Indians at St. 
Francis, who had committed so many depreda- 
tions and cruelties upon our border inhabitants. 
They were sent out with the utmost secrecy. 
On the 5th of October he struck the fatal blow, 
and commenced his retreat, which terminated 
disastrously to many. How could the people of 
New Hampshire know of this expedition ? How 
in time to make this provision ? And how could 
they know that their aid would be needed, or 
where it would be needed ? i 



36 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

The probability is, that the Indians discovered 
the exploring party of Captain Powers in 1754, 
and related the fact to the early settlers, and 
imagination soon connected the two events of 
Powers' exploration and Rogers' retreat, giving 
the latter as the cause of the former. My view 
of this subject is, that the first information which 
our people received of the "Coos Meadows" was 
derived from Indians, hunters, and captives. 
The second source of intelligence was from 
Captain Powers and his company. And the 
third was from the soldiers of the old French 
war. But it is time that I proceed to the settle- 
ment of the " Cohos Meadow s.^^ 

There were two men who were the principal 
agents in the first settlement of Haverhill and 
Newbury in the Coos country, — Col. Jacob Bai- 
ley, of Newbury, Mass., and Capt. John Hazen, 
of Haverhill, Mass. They were both officers in 
the old French war, and stood high in the esti- 
mation of government. It is supposed that they 
were taught to expect each a charter of a town- 
ship in the Coos, if they went on and com- 
menced settlements therein. They agreed to 
act in conjunction, and to proceed harmoniously 
in the undertaking. Hazen was to go on first, 
and take possession of the east side of the river, 
and Bailey was to take possession of the west 



OP THE COOS COUNTEV. gy 

Side as soon as he could find per^om i. 7 ■ 
and come on himself as soon as hTs ^ff "' 
home would permit ^^"^ ^' 

wiu:rS;;2^;,'^---onu.omen 

from Haverhill, Mass., by No 4 «; Ch > "^ '""' 
and then up the Conn'eetLt Rte "^ ^ W "t"'?' 
possession of the Little O^ /?! ^ °°'' 

side of the riv^r ;„ I '^' °" ^^^^ east 

Ml, N.H tI:;. /f' P^"^'^ ^f Haver- 
Great OxBo^o'nthT ''^'^°-S-' -d the 
"clear.1 JI^V tj^rt/^''^^ ^^-' 
Ws states in ^is joZ f J ^X^^^- 
former years h^pn ^,,t.- , 5^ "^^ ^^ 

the growti of I„d '''' '^ ''^"^ '"^^^»« fi'r 
siuwm or Indian corn. Thp iniii 

swarded over, and a tall ^vild ^rass ! """'" 

neously and luxuriantly so thlt ^ r '^°"'"- 
of fodder for the cattip w f abundance 

The Mans ;:: L ;rt >^ P— 'J- 
dows, east and weslof th °" '^^^"^ '^'^^ 

cable. The loss of .l! "^''■' ^"^ '^'"'^ ^mi- 

-dthellrLr.^^i''^^^r''> 

upon their brethren at Tt ^ '' '"^'<="^'J 
their ardor, and rendered thT"' ''' '=°°'^'^ 
taking possession of hi:, ^'^r °' °"' '"^^ 
acceptable to them than ° ' ' '"' """'^ 

they threatened ZX 1 H,"^ ^^^2' -hen 
^ ^a case the country was 



3g HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

explored for the purpose of settlement It waS 
not wonderful that the Indians should feel deep 
repugnance at the idea of losing this country. 
It was a fine country for them. It was easy of 
cultivation, and suited to their imperfect means. 
The soil was rich. The river abounded m sa^ 
„,on, and the streams in trout, and the whole 
country was plentifully supplied with game, hear, 
de Lose, aird fowls. It was the half-^vay 
resting place between the Canadas and the shore, 
of the Atlantic; and while this was retained i 
was the key that opened the door to, or shut U 
against, the most direct commumcation between 
^'^" ' . , .. n„m,in<! And what was 

the Oolomes and the Canadas. Anu 

more than all to the Indians, it was their fathers 

''fcannot bttt marvel somewhat at the conelu^ 
.ion oftheKev.ClarkPerry,in his "Annals 

and Historical Sketches of Newbury, Vt., 1831. 
He savs p 24, " It does not appear that this sec- 
tion orcountry was ever the permanent abode 
of Indians." But why it should not have been, 
I cannot conjecture. Certainly there was no 
spot in New England which could have present- 
ed to the Indian greater inducements for a per- 
manent abode ; and we know of no one ptece n 
New England which has exhibited stronger in- 
dications of Indian settlements. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 30 

I have a communication from David Johnson, 
Esq., of Newbury, touching this point, and I 
think the evidence he gives of an old Indian 
settlement in that place is conclusive. No man 
is better qualified to judge impartially and cor- 
rectly in this matter than Mr. Johnson. He has 
always lived on the place of which he speaks, 
and he is a gentleman who feels the liveliest 
interest in antiquities ; has been accumulating 
facts of this kind for many years ; and I would 
embrace this opportunity to express my obliga- 
tions to him for his prompt and persevering aid 
in the work before me. I shall put down his 
communication as I have received it. 

*^ On the high ground, east of the mouth of 
Cow Meadow Brook, and south of the three large 
projecting rocks, were found many indications 
of an old and extensive Indian settlement. There 
were many domestic implements. Among the 
rest were a stone mortar and pestle. The pestle 
I have seen. Heads of arrows, large quantities 
of ashes, and the ground burnt over to a great 
extent, are gome of the marks of a long resi- 
dence there. The burnt ground and ashes were 
still visible the last time it was ploughed. On 
the meadow, forty or fifty rods below, near the 
rocks in the river, was evidently a burying 
ground. The remains of many of the sons of 



40 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

the forest ^re there deposited. Bones have fre- 
quently been turned up by the plough. That 
they were buried in the sitting posture, peculiar 
to the Indians, has been ascertained. 

" When the first settlers came here, the re- 
mains of a fort were still visible on the Ox Bow, 
a dozen or twenty rods from the east end of 
Moses Johnson's lower garden, on the south side 
of the lane. The size of the fort was plain to 
be seen. Trees about as large as a man's thigh 
were growing in the circumference of the old 
fort. A profusion of white flint-stones and 
heads of arrows may yet be seen scattered over 
the ground. It is a tradition which I have fre- 
quently heard repeated, that after the fight with 
Lovewell, the Indians said they should now be 
obliged to leave Coossuck." * 

It will appear in the sequel of these sketches, 
that at a remote period, there was an intimate 
connection between the Indians of Coos, of 
Maine, and of the St. Francis. The connection 
between the Coos and St. Francis tribe contin- 
ued until the last. 

We now return to Johnston and Pet tie, whom 
we have left on the Little Ox Bow. They mad^ 
themselves a booth, and built a shed for their 
cattle, and spent the subsequent winter in feed- 

* Our Coos. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 41 

ing out the hay they had gathered daring sum- 
mer. One would suppose that these mdividuals 
must have felt themselves sufficiently solitary 
from November, 1761, to June, 1762, not having, 
for a great part of this time, a white man within 
sixty miles of them, yet surrounded with In- 
dians, and their cattle a temptation for the latter 
to massacre them, that they might seize upon the 
booty. But they survived the winter unharmed, 
and in the spring of 1762, Capt. Hazen came to 
their relief, with hands and materials for building 
a grist-mill and saw-mill, where the Swazey 
mills now >stand. 

But before Capt. Hazen arrived, a family had 
come into Newbury, by the name of Sleeper. 
In March, 1762, Glazier Wheeler, from Shutes- 
bury, Mass., came up with a brother of his, to. 
hunt near the head of Connecticut River, and 
while on the way, they fell in with Samuel 
Sleeper and his family, at Charlestown. They 
were from Hampton, N. H. Slee})€r was a Q,ua* 
ker preacher, but was now employed by General 
Jacob Bailey to proceed to Newbur^^, and take 
possession until the general could come on in 
person. Sleeper contracted with Wheeler to 
take him and his family on to his semi-sleigh 
and semi-sled, and carry them to Newbury, 

Sleeper pitched his tent a little south of where 
4* 



42 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

the Kents now live, and have long lived. Tho- 
mas Chamberlain next came on from Dunstable, 
N. H., and settled on "Musquash Meadow/* 
south of the " Great Ox Bow," and a little at 
the north-west of the ferry at the Dow farm. 
Richard Chamberlain came on next from Hins- 
dale, N. H., and settled on Musquash Meadow. 
Chamberlain landed at the ferry about noon with 
his family. Before night, a hut was erected of 
posts and bark, which served them three months 
for a habitation. In the centre stood a large 
stump, which was their table. The house he 
afterward erected stood near Josiah Little's barn, 
not far from the river. The old cellar may yet 
be seen. 

These two Chamberlains were not in the in- 
terest of Hazen or Bailey, but were employed to 
come on and take possession for one Oliver Wil- 
iard, of Northfield, Mass., who was endeavoring 
to supplant Bailey and Hazen. But the latter 
being united in their petitions for grants ; being 
also in favor with the Governor, and having 
taken possession by their agents prior to Wil- 
lard, succeeded, and Willard failed. Willard's 
disappointment was great, and his anger violent. 
He gave out vaunting threats that if he could 
catch Hazen out of the settlement, he would 
flog him to his heart's content. Hazen, how- 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 43 

ever, had seen too many tomahawks and bristling 
bayonets around the walls of (Quebec to be 
greatly disquieted by a threat of this kind. But 
these two men afterward met in Charlestown, 
and upon Willard's attempting to execute his 
promise, he caught the severest flogging that 
any man need receivCj and this terminated the 
matter. 

This same year, 1762, John Hazleton, from 
Hampstead, N. H., moved into Newbury, and first 
hved at the foot of the hill, south of the Johnson 
village, but afterward settled in the south part 
of the town, where Col. Moody Chamberlain 
now lives, near the south bridge. In this family, 
in 1763, before they moved from the Ox Bow, 
the first English child was born in this town — 
Betsey Hazleton, now the Widow Lovewell, of 
the north parish in Haverhill, in her 77th year. 

The same year, the first male child of English 
descent was born in the family of Thomas 
Chamberlain, and was called Jacob Bailey Cham- 
berlain. The parents of this son received a 
hundred acres of land, as a bounty, according to 
a promise of the original proprietor, that the first 
mother of a son born in that settlement should 
receive one hundred acres of land. 

I now return to Hazen and his party. I have 
said he came on in the spring of 1762, with men 



44 Historical sketches 

and materials for building a saw-mill and grist- 
mill, where the Swazey mills now stand. With 
Hazen came Col. Joshua Howard, of Haverhill, 
Mass., born April 24, 1740. He was then 22 
years of age, and lived in Haverhill until Janu- 
ary 7th, 1839, almost 99 years of age. He was 
a man of strict veracity, and at the time when he 
gave his narration of events in the early settle^- 
ment of these towns, (July 27, 1824,) he was 
of sound mind and good memory. I am much 
indebted to him for materials in these sketches. 

Howard labored that first season in preparing 
the timbers for the mills, and was present at the 
raising of them. He relates one providential es- 
cape from death at the raising of those mills, 
which deserves notice. One of their company, 
John Hughs, an Irishman, fell from the frame, 
sixteen feet, and struck perpendicularly upon the 
mud-sill, head downwards, without any thing to 
abate the force of the fall. He was taken up 
without signs of life ; but Glazier Wheeler, from 
Newbury, found a penknife with the company, 
and opened a vein, and after the loss of blood, 
he revived, and soon recovered from the tremen- 
dous blow. Physicians and surgeons, those com- 
fortable adjuncts to an improved state of society, 
were then out of the question, and every mind, 
in such an emergency, was put upon its own 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 45 

resources. But I have a tale more melancholy 
to relate. 

Johnston and Pettie, who had spent the winter 
in solitariness, now thought of visiting their 
friends at the east ; and preparing themselves a 
canoe, they took their departure in June, in- 
tending to descend the river to Charlestown. 
They made their way pleasantly until they came 
near the mouth of White River, in Lebanon. 
Here they were drawn into a whirlpool ; their 
canoe was upset, and they were plunged into the 
river. Johnston made every effort to reach the 
shore, but sunk into the arms of death. Pettie, 
being the better swimmer, gained the shore, and 
was enabled to bear the melancholy tidings of 
Johnston's death to his friends. 

Some time after this event, a stranger, passing 
up the river in a boat, discovered the body of a 
man lying upon the shore of a small island in 
the river, between Lebanon, N. H., and Hartford, 
Vt. Not knowing any thing of Johnston or of 
his fate, and being far from any settlement, he 
performed the kindest office to a stranger corpse 
which remained in his power. He digged a 
grave in the best manner he could, interred the 
body, and left it the sole proprietor of the island. 
It now bears his name, "Johnston's Island.^' 
He is still the only occupant, and will probably 



46 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

remain such, until the Great Proprietor of the 
world shall assert his claim, recall the dead, and 
extinguish all earthly titles. Col. Charles John- 
ston, brother of Michael Johnston, after he came 
to Haverhill, and learned the resting place of his 
brother, went down to the island, found the 
lonely grave, bedewed it with his tears, erected 
a monument to his brother's memory, and re- 
signed all into the keeping of Him who had 
given and taken. Capt. Michael Johnston, now 
of Haverhill, was so called to bear up and per- 
petuate the name of that uncle who found this 
early grave. 

Col. Howard relates that he and two others 
were the first among the settlers who came from 
Salisbury in a straight course to Haverhill. 
They came on in April, 1762. Howard, Jesse 
Harriman, and Simeon Stevens employed an old 
hunter at Concord to guide them through. They 
came west of Newfound Pond, in Hebron, fol- 
lowed up the north-west branch of Baker's River 
into Coventry, and down the Oliverian to the 
Connecticut. They performed the journey in 
four days from Concord. 

In June, of this year, the first family moved 
into Haverhill. Uriah Morse, and Hannah, his 
wife, came from Northfield, Mass., and settled 
upon the bank of Poole Brook, west of the bridge 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. ^'^ 

on the main road, and a little south-west of the 
house where David Merrill lived for many years. 
They boarded Capt. Hazen's men, while they 
were building the mills, and other adventurers 
as they came into the settlement. The first 
child of English descent had its birth in this 
family, in the spring of 1763 ; but we hear of iv> 
bounty bestowed upon the parents, as m New- 
bury, the same year, nor do we learn whether it 
was male or female. Indeed, it survived its 
birth but a few days. The first death of an 
adult occurred in this family, also— Polly Har- 
riman died of consumption, aged 18 years. She 
was buried a little south-west of the present 
meeting-house in the north parish of Haverhill, 
between the meeting-house and the Southards. 
Her death was much lamented. 

Poole Brook derived its name from a man 
whose name was Poole, who lived fifty or sixty 
rods north of Uriah Morse's house. Poole was 
drowned one mile above the Narroivs, in Con- 
necticut River, above Wells' River. Glazier 
Wheeler and his son Charles found the body of 
Poole, seven days after drowning, and it was 
brought down to the great Ox Bow and interred. 
Polly, the only child of Mr. Poole, married John 
Johnson, of Newbury, and was drowned in the 
Connecticut, near where her father was buried. 



48 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Thomas Johnson, Timothy Bedel, Capt. Hazen, 
and Jesse Harriman boarded in the family of 
Uriah Morse in the autumn of 1762. Johnson 
was now in his 21st year. He was born March 
22d, 1742, and came into the settlement in the 
service of General Bailey ; but the first season he 
boarded on the east side of the river. He origi- 
nated in Haverhill, Mass. Thomas Johnson's 
first purchase in Newbury bears date October 6, 
1763. It is the united testimony of the first 
settlers, that at that early period, moose, bear, 
deer, beaver, otter, mink and sables were nu- 
merous ; and that salmon enriched and adorned 
the river. Trout was not so abundant in the 
streams as salmon in the river, and shad never 
appeared above Bellows' Falls, in Walpole. 

We now come to speak of the events of 1763, 
in those settlements. This was the year of 
charters with them. Newbury's charter bears 
date March 18th, 1763, signed by Benning Went- 
worth, and I think Haverhill charter bears the 
same date. 

The first town meeting under the charter was 
held by the freemen of Newbury, June 13, 1763, 
and not less than 100 miles from the location of 
their grant, viz., at Plaistow, N. H. And before 
this meeting was adjourned, they voted to unite 
with Haverhill in paying a preacher for the term 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 49 

of two or three months, "this fall or winter," — 
a very worthy example, while they were yet so 
few and feeble. 

This was a year of enlargement with Haver- 
hill and Newbury. Benjamin Hall, from Massa- 
chusetts, came in and settled near the Porter 
place, where the Southards now live. Jonathan 
Saunders and Sarah Rowell, both from Hamp- 
ton, N. H., came and settled near the present 
house of Dr. Carleton, late deceased. Jacob 
Hal], from Northfield, Mass., came and settled on 
the Dow farm, so called. Hon. James Wood- 
ward, of Hampstead, N. H., came and settled on 
his place at the age of twenty-two years. He 
purchased his farm at twenty cents per acre. 
Mr. John Page, father of the present governor 
of New Hampshire, came into Haverhill this 
year from Lunenburg, Mass. He was employed 
by his uncle, David Page, to assist in driving up 
his cattle to Lancaster, and this was the begin- 
ning of the settlement of that town — David 
Page's son having been up in the preceding June 
of that year, and marked out a way for them 
from Haverhill. John Page returned from Lan- 
caster, and bought his farm in Haverhill, but 
spent the subsequent winter in taking care of 
Gen. Bailey's stock in Newbury, which arrived 
that season, and not in 1762, as many have sup- 
5 



^^ HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

posed. This was Mr. Pagers account, Captain 
Howard's, and Col. Joshua Bailey's, who came 
with his father to Newbuiy in 1764, at eleven 
years of age. Page continued to labor for Gen. 
Bailey until he was able to pay for his farm. He 
then came to Haverhill, married Abigail Saun- 
ders, daughter of the first settler south of him, 
and lived to the age of eighty-two, and departed 
this life in 1823. 

This year Noah White came into Newbury 
with his family, and settled. Thomas Johnson 
established himself in the Ox Bow, and Col. Ja- 
cob Kent came into Newbur}^, November 4, 1763, 
the twelfth family in both towns. There were 
a number of young men boarding in those fami- 
lies. Col. Kent was born at Chebacco, Mass., June 
11, 1726, and Mary White, his wife, was born, 
at Plaistow, N. H., August 14, 1736. Mrs. Kent 
survived her husband many years, and lived to a 
great age. She was nearly ninety years of age 
when I visited her to obtain information relative 
to the first settlers, and I found her memory good 
upon subjects of ancient date. In answer to the 
question, " Were there many wild animals in the 
town when you first came here, such as bears 
and wolves?" she replied, " O, yes — there were 
enough of them creatures ! I was once fright- 
ened almost out of my wits by them. It was 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 51 

on a Sabbath day. The colonel was gone to 
meeting, and I was left alone, and there came 
three great bears to the door, and looked right 
in upon me ! I expected nothing but they would 
come in and devour me ; but after looking at me 
awhile, they turned away, and trotted off, and 
glad was L" Ladies of Newbury and Haver- 
hill, how would you like, at this time, to have 
your devotions interrupted, or your domestic con- 
cerns thus unceremoniously iiL~pected, by stran- 
ger gentlemen, such as these ? Mum ! 

In this year, says Col. Joshua Bailey, John 
Foreman and several others of Pennsylvania, hav- 
ing enlisted into the British army near the com- 
mencement of the old French war, and having 
been retained in Canada after peace was restored, 
deserted and made through the woods until they 
came upon the head waters of the Connecticut, 
and following down the stream, they came into 
the north part of Haverhill. But here they found 
themselves famishing through lack of sustenance, 
and as they knew not that there was an English 
settlement within a hundred miles of them, 
they were prepared to seize upon any thing which 
could satisfy the demands of hunger. They 
unexpectedly came in sight of a horse upon the 
plain north of the north parish meeting-house, 
and supposing it to be wild, or one that had gone 



52 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

far astray, they shot it, and fed themselves upon 
its flesh. Replenishing their packs with the 
residue of the meat, they proceeded south, but 
soon discovered smokes ascending from chimneys 
on the Ox Bow and vicinity. They were alarm- 
ed at the idea of falling into the hands of hostile 
Indians, especially since they had killed one of 
their horses. But after some consultation, they 
concluded that one of their number should cross 
the river, make what discoveries he could, and 
then return and report. He accordingly swam 
the river, and, to his great joy, found these were 
English settlements. The news and a boat were 
soon carried back to his companions. They 
were brought on to the Ox Bow, where they 
found food, a shelter, and sympathizing friends. 
Col. Bailey says, this fact of their kilUng the 
horse on that plain gave the name "Horse Mea- 
dow" to that section of the town, and not the 
traditionary story of horses finding a rush-grass 
there sooner in the spring than elsewhere. 

At this time, 1763, we are told, there were no 
roads in any direction, and that their bread-stuffs 
were brought from Charlestown in boats. It is a 
little extraordinary that none of the first settlers 
make mention of the great drought which pre- 
vailed in the Colonies for the years 1761 and 1762.* 

* See Belknap, vol. ii. p. 238. 



or THE coos COUNTRY. 53 

It must have affected them whatever were their 
seasons at Coos ; for as 3^et they were depending 
on foreign suppHes. 

We now come to speak of the progress of these 
settlements in 1764. This was a year of increase, 
and they realized an accession which seemed to 
give character to the settlements for many years. 
Deacon Jonathan Elkins with his family, from 
Hampton, N. H., came into Haverhill, and set- 
tled near Doctor Carleton's. Deacon Elkins was 
a valuable acquisition to the town ; but he re- 
mained here but little more than ten years, be- 
fore he removed to Peacham, Vt., and was one 
of the first settlers, and most efficient, in that 
town. Col. Timothy Beedel, from New-Salem, 
moved his family to this place, and settled on 
Poole Brook, where David Merrill long lived. 
Hon. Ezekiel Ladd came in and settled on the 
place where he lived fifty-four years, and died at 
the advanced age of eighty years, fl818.^ He 
married Ruth Hutchins. They both belonged 
to Haverhill, Mass. Mrs. Ladd died 1817, aged 
seventy-six, 

Newbury was enlarged and blessed, also, this 
year by the arrival of Gen. Jacob Bailey with 
his family. He had been from the first the prin- 
cipal mover in the settlement. His influence 
was felt in every proceeding, and now he had 
5* 



54 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

come to bless himself, and to save much people 
alive, in the approaching contest between Great 
Britain emd her Colonies. He arrived in New- 
bury, October, 1764. He lived, at that time, 
south of the Johnson Village, and north of the 
hill, on the east side of the road. He was thirty- 
eight years of age when he came to Newbury, 
and lived until March, 1815, when he resigned 
a long life, that had been devoted to his country, 
to his town, and, for a considerable length of 
time, to his God. He died at eighty-nine years 
of age. 

This same year came the Rev. Peter Powers, 
of Hollis, N. H., to labor with this people in 
holy things. Mr. Powers was born in Dunsta- 
ble, N. H., November 29, 1728, moved to HolHs 
with his father, January, 1731, which was the 
first settlement in that town. He graduated at 
Harvard College in 1754, the year his father 
explored the Coos country. He was first settled 
in the ministry at Newent, then a parish in Nor- 
wich, Con., now the town of Lisbon, where he 
labored some years ; but taking a dismission 
from that charge, he came to Newbury at thirty- 
six years of age. Through his instrumentality a 
church was gathered and organized in Newbury, 
in the fall of 1764, composed of members from 
both sides of the river. The two settlements 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 55 

united, also, in forming an ecclesiastical society, 
which union continued nearly twenty years. 

We now enter upon the transactions and events 
of 1765. During this year, the settlements at 
Coos began to have some neighbors. One or 
two settlements were made at Bradford, Orford, 
Lyme, Thetford, Hanover, Lebanon, and Ply- 
mouth ; but more of these hereafter. 

On the 24th of January, 1765, the Rev. Mr. 
Powers received a call to take the spiritual charge 
of this newly constituted church and society in 
the wilderness. He gave his answer in the af- 
firmative, February 1, 1765. They then voted 
that '' the installment be on the last Wednesday 
of this instant, and voted, that the Reverend 
Messrs. Abner Bailey, Daniel Emerson, Joseph 
Emerson, Henry True, and Joseph Goodhue, with 
their churches, be a council for said installment. 
Voted, that Jacob Bailey, Esq., shall represent the 
town of Newbury at the council, which was voted 
to meet for said installment doion country where 
it is thought best. Jacob Kent, Town Clerk." 

There is, to us, some novelty in this vote for 
installment somewhere ; but the necessity of the 
case explains the whole affair. There were no 
ministers or churches in all the region, and they 
must go by their delegation until they found 
them. The ministers selected for the council 



56 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

belonged in Hollis and vicinity, and the Rev. 
Mr. Powers was installed at Hollis, February 27, 
1765, as the title page to the sermon that W3ls 
preached on the occasion showeth, which is as 
follows :-^ 

-'' A Sermon preached at Hollis, February 27, 
1765, at the Installation of the Rev. Peter Pow- 
ers, A. M., for the Towns of Newbury and Ha- 
verhill, at a Place called Coos, in the Province 
of New-hampshire. By Myself Published at 
the desire of many who heard it, to whom it is 
humbly dedicated by the unworthy Author. 
Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is 
leady- — Go ye therefore into the high ways, and 
as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 
Matt. xxii. 8, 9. Portsmouth, in New-hampshire, 
Printed and sold by Daniel and Robert Fowie, 
1765." 

There is novelty in the circumstance of Mr. 
Powers' preaching his own installation sermon, 
but it was nothing uncommon at that day ; and 
there is room for doubt whether the moderns 
have made an improvement in this particular. 

Mr. Powers' goods were brought from Charles- 
town to Newbury upon the ice on the river, the 
last of February, by the people of Newbury and 
Haverhill ; but the family did not arrive until. 
April of that year. 



or THE coos COUNTRY. 57 

A circumstance occurred on the journey with 
tJhe goods, which gave rise to an anecdote which 
was rife among the old people, down to a late 
period. It has been related to me by persons 
belonging to several different towns. There was 
a man living in Newbury, and a member of the 
church, by the name of Wa^. He was an ec- 
centric character, and would on some occasions 
speak unadvisedly, yet was a very friendly man, 
and was held in general esteem. He was one 
who volunteered his services to bring up the 
goods upon the ice. It was so late in February, 
that in some places, especially where tributaries 
came in, the ice was thin and brittle. They, 
however, made their way without serious diffi- 
culty, until they came to the mouth of Ompom- 
panoosuc, at the north-east part of Norwich, 
where Way's sled broke through, and had like 
to have gone down, sled, team. Way and all. 
But by timely eifort on the part of his travelling 
companions, they were all extricated. As soon 
as Way and his team reached firm footing, he 
turned around and surveyed the danger he had 
been in ; and, as he saw the waters boiling and 
eddying with a frightful aspect, he said to his 
companions, '^ That is a cursed hole." When the 
party had arrived at Newbury, and they were re- 
lating the trials and dangers of the way, some 



58 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

one mentioned what Mr. Way said of Ompom- 
panoosuc. It was not long before this came to 
the ears of Mr. Powers, and he resolved to go, as 
his custom was in like cases, and have a conver- 
sation with Mr. Way, and admonish him, if he 
should be found to have been delinquent. He 
accordingly went and told Mr. Way that he had 
been told he had been speaking unadvisedly and 
wickedly. '' What, what is it ?" said Mr. Way. 
^' Why, they say you said of Ompompanoosuc, 
that it icas a cursed hole.^'' '' Well, it is a cursed 
hole," said Way ; '' I say, it is a cursed hole, and 
I can prove it." " O no, you cannot," said Mr. 
Powers, " and you have done very wrong — you 
must repent." '' Why," said Way, '' did not the 
Lord curse the earth for man's sin?" "Yes," 
said Mr. Powers. '^ Well," replied Way, " do 
you think that little divilish Ompompanoosuc 
was an exception ? " Mr. Powers turned away, 
and exclaimed, '' O, Mr. Way, Mr. Way, I stand 
in fear for you," and recording his nolle prosequi^ 
departed. 

Mr. Powers lived in a house a little north of 
the house of Gen. Bailey, and south of Thomas 
Johnson's. He preached for a time at Gen. 
Bailey's house, and, in the mean time, they 
built a log meeting-house, south of Gen. Bai- 
ley's, and north of the hill, where they wor- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 59 

shipped some years. This was the house voted 
to be buih, 28 feet by 25 feet, in October, 1764, 
as stated by the Rev. Mr. Perry in his manuscript 
6f 1831, but Vv^hich he conckides never was 
builded, pp. 14 and 16, in manuscript. The 
truth is, Mr. Perry was laboring under a mistake 
in regard to meeting-houses. The first meeting- 
house stood where I have located it. A framed 
meeting-house was some years afterward erected 
near where the present Congregational meeting- 
house stands ; but as there was dissatisfaction in 
regard to its location, it was pulled down, and 
re-erected on the spot where Mr. Perry speaks 
of the first meeting-house standing, viz., ''west 
of the burying ground ;" but it was not for a 
meeting-house that it was erected there, but 
for a court-house and jail ; still, divine service 
might have been maintained there after the 
first house had become too small to accommo- 
date the congregation, and before the present 
meeting-house was erected in 1790. 

I wish here to be indulged with a single 
remark in respect to Brother Perry's manuscript. 
It was a very laudable undertaking. I am not 
altogether unaided by it ; but he was in too 
much haste in preparing it ; depended too much 
on common report, and did not compare notes 
sufficiently. It will not guide us safely through 



60 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

the labyrinth of the twenty-five first years, in 
these settlements. But as I have said, they 
worshipped at the Ox Bow some years, and 
Haverhill people assembled with them, with 
great punctuality. There was a foot-path lead- 
ing from Judge James Woodward's late resi- 
dence, north-westerly, to the river, where was 
a log canoe to set them across, and from the 
point of landing, a serpentine path through tall 
grass, bushes, and sometimes towering trees, 
led them to the place of worship. They had 
another canoe at the Dow farm, and another at 
the Porter place. 

At that day it was a sin and disreputable in 
the view of all, for persons to absent themselves 
from the place of worship without valid cause ; 
and parents were seen uniformly carrying their 
children in their arms from Dr. Carleton's j^lace 
to the Johnson Village and back again, the same 
day, and sometimes when the grass and bushes 
were wet, and the trees from above dropped upon 
them their dewy blessings ; and all this, that they 
might hear the word of life dispensed. Going 
and returning in their meandering course could 
not have been a less distance than twelve miles, 
and sometimes each parent had one to carry. 
Nor was the attendance at worship less uniform 
and punctual with those on the west side of the 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 61 

river. Some females walked from Moretown, 
now Bradford, and others from Ryegate, a dis- 
tance of ten miles. Those from the latter place, 
when they came to Wells' River, (there being 
no canoe,) would bare their feet, and "trip it 
along as nimbly as the deer." The men gene- 
rally went bare-footed ; the ladies, certainly, 
wore shoes. 

Tlie wife of Judge Ladd related to me her 
extreme mortification on the first Sabbath she 
attended meeting at the Ox Bow. She and her 
husband had been recently married. They 
came from Haverhill, Mass., and had seen and 
tasted some of the refinements of life. She 
thought she must appear as well as any of them, 
and put on her wedding silks, with muffled cuffs, 
extending from the shoulder to the elbow, and 
there made fast by brilliant sleeve-buttons. 
(Ladies of the toilet of eighty years' experience 
will understand all this.) She wore silk hose 
and florid shoes. Her husband appeared, also, 
in his best, and they took their seats on benches 
early in the sanctuary. But she remarked that 
" they went alone, sat alone, and returned alone ; 
for it was not possible for her to get near enough 
to any one of the females to hold conversation 
with them ; and she was so home-sick, she 
thought she should die, and would have gi^' 
6 



CQ HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

any thing coald sjhe have formed some acquaint' 
ance with those who were to be her female 
neighbors," but they were actually afraid of her. 
and each sat, or stood, at a proper distcince, lest 
they should soil her dress. On their return 
home, she told her husband she had learned one 
lesson, and that was, Whe7t among Romans y 
conform to Romans. The next Sabbath she ap- 
peared in a clean check-linen gown, and other 
articles in accordance, and she found very socia- 
ble and warm-hearted friends. 

But their worship v/as destined to interrup- 
tions in the summer of 1765. I have already 
spoken of Samuel Sleeper, the first settler in 
Newbury, in 17G2 ; that he was a Quaker preach- 
er, and that he came on to take possession for 
Gen. Bailey. We do not hear of any irregu- 
larities practised by Sleeper until after the settle- 
ment of Mr. Powers. Then he claimed the 
right to hold forth at any time, and on all occa- 
sions, when the Spirit moved him; and while 
Mr. Powers was speaking, he would sometimes 
say — '' Thee lies, friend Peter." And at other 
times he would vociferate — '' False doctrines ! 
false doctrines !" Then again — '^Glorious truths ! 
Glorious truths!" The principal men used all 
means to dissuade him from such a course of 
conduct ; but he grew more insolent and boistet^ 



OF THE COOS COUNTUr. t>o 

ous, and they at length incarcerated him in a 
cellar on Musquash Meadow; but as soon as 
Sleeper was disposed of, one Benoni Wright, a 
convert and pupil of Sleeper, volunteered to fill 
the vacated seat of his master, and if Sleeper 
had chastised the sinners with whips, Wright 
would do it with scorpions. He permitted hi;s 
beard to grow at full length, and by this, he be- 
came a professed prophet of the Lord, and deliv- 
ered his messages in the most boisterous and 
frantic manner. But he gained no converts, and 
as he resisted every remonstrance of the people, 
they adopted a summary course with him. Tlie 
elders of the people in both settlements took 
him on to the meadow, near where Sleeper was 
in duress, held a court upon him, convicted him, 
and doomed him to receive " ten lashes, well 
laid on.*' Wright was stripped and received the 
judgment of the court upon the spot, and the 
same self-constituted court passed a decree, and 
sent it to Sleeper, that if he appeared again after 
coniiuement, to make the least disturbance, he 
should rcceiv^e thirty lashes in full tale. This 
was decisive, and these prophets concluded to 
sacrifice their consciences at the shrine of their 
bodies. Peace and order were restored. 

But the next season, 1766, Sleeper and Wright 
left the settlement in Newbury, and removed 



64 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

into Bradford, and settled on the meadow, north 
of Mr. Hunkins, and east of what was Johnson's 
tavern, in the north of Bradford. Here Wright 
undertook to sustain a fast of forty days, and 
withdrew to a cave in a mountain, at the north- 
west part of Bradford. And that he might gird 
himself for his conflict with hunger and the 
Prince of the power of the air, he procured him 
a strap with forty holes in it, and was to buckle 
himself up one hole each day ,• but long before 
he had attained to a " good degree," he was so 
pressed upon by hunger, that he concluded to 
return home to his wife, and get her to prepare 
him a good supper. She did so, and just as 
Wright was sitting down to his repast, in bolted 
Sleeper, who exclaimed, " Friend Wright, dost 
thou break thy fast ?" Wright was moon-struck 
for a time ; but his appetite prevailed, and he 
returned not to the mountain, which has from 
that time borne his name, Wrighfs Mountain. 
From this time these two men wholly disappear 
from our history. 

Col. Joshua Howard related to me in 1824, 
and confirmed the same in 1832, that the origin 
of Sleeper's opposition Avas this : — Qen. Bailey 
found it somewhat difficult to procure a man to 
come on and take possession of that land amidst 
the Indians, who would not like as well to take 



OF THE coos COUNTRY, 65 

possession for himself, as for another ; and such 
a man he did not want. He at length came 
across Sleeper, who promised he would go on, 
provided he might become their Quaker preacher, 
when they had obtained their grant, and had 
formed a Christian society. Bailey, willing to 
indulge his whim, said to him pleasantly, '' O 
yes, Sleeper, you shall be our minister." Sleep- 
er took it all for specie, and in process of time, 
Bailey found there was more of Quakerism than 
poetry in Sleeper, 

In Jhe fail of this year, 1765, Judge Wood' 
ward was married to Hannah Clark, and it was 
the first marriage ceremony ever performed in 
the county of Grafton ; and as there were some 
things attending it out of the ordinary course, 
and as I had the particulars from the judge him- 
self, I will relate them, as they will serve to 
show that some things could be done then, as 
well as at this time. I have stated that Judge 
Woodward came into Haverhill in 1763, and 
bought his meadov/ farm. He built his first tent 
upon the meadow, as nearly all the first settlers 
did in Newbury, and some in Haverhill, not 
knowing that they would be in danger from 
floods; but being driven ofi" by a flood in 1771, 
they afterwards built upon more elevated ground. 
But Woodward was now enjoying single bless- 
6* 



66 HI!9T0RICAL SKETCHES 

edness in his tent. He felled trees by day, 
went to the Dow farm for his meals, and slept 
on the meadow at night. And although he 
sometimes dreamed of fairy forms, of sparkling 
eyes, and ruby lips, yet he knew not that Provi- 
dence had any thing of this kind in reserve for 
him, and if he had, he knew not where it might 
be found ; for young females, in those dai/s, 
were duly appreciated. But the next year, when 
Judge Ladd came on, he brought with him a 
blooming little maid, Hannah Clark, of fifteen, 
to live in his family a year or two, and then, in 
the mind of Judge Ladd and wife, she would 
become the wife of John Ladd, a brother of 
Judge Ladd. Woodward went to see his neigh- 
bor Ladd, and there he saw the object, which 
took, at once, full possession of his soul ,• and he 
could not see why he might not enjoy it, as well 
as John liadd ; and from that moment, he re- 
solved to secure Hannah Clark for his wife, if it 
was in his power. He called at Judge Ladd's 
occasionally, and had some brief opportunities 
for conversation with Hannah, enough to satisfy 
him that his views and feelings were reciproca- 
ted, before Judge Ladd or his wife suspected the 
choice or intention of either; but as soon as 
their suspicions were awakened, Woodward was 
prohibited the privilege of visiting at the house, 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 6/ 

and a strict watch was maintained over this httle 
bhishing girl. But after all, they had their 
friends, and billets, and flowers, and compliments 
passed between them ; and occasionally an in- 
terview was obtained through the intervention 
of friends. This kind of innocent conspiracy 
was carried on against Judge Ladd and wife one 
full year, and then the parties thought seriously 
of deciding the controversy by a clandestine 
marriage. The plan was laid and executed in 
the following manner : — 

Woodward went to Newbury, and told all his 
heart to Ephraim Bailey, son of Gen. Bailey, 
and brought him to espouse his cause, and to co- 
operate with him. Woodward told Bailey they 
must have one female enlisted in their interests. 
Bailey said he believed he could find one that 
would sustain that part. He was then paying 
his addresses to a young girl by the name of 
Hannah Fellows, and he could initiate her into 
the secret, and secure her aid. It was accord- 
ingly confided to her, and it was so arranged 
that Hannah Fellows was to pass over to Haver- 
hill, and spend the afternoon in visiting Hannah 
Clark, tell her what was expected of her, and 
the sun about an hour high, she was to solicit 
the favor of Mrs. Ladd to have Hannah Clark 
walk with her as far as the river on her return 



6S HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

to Newbury. In the mean time, the Rev. Mr. 
Powers was to be requested to be upon the west 
bank of the river precisely at such an hour, and 
Ephraim Bailey was to set him across in the 
canoe, and then all were to step into Wood- 
ward's tent, and the marriage ceremony be per- 
formed. Woodward had already taken out li- 
cense from under the king to authorize his being 
married without publishment, and every thing 
succeeded according to previous arrangement. 
The moment the two Hannahs came on to the 
meadow, Mr. Powers and Ephraim Bailey were 
seen coming up from the river. They all en- 
tered into Woodward's tent, and in a short time 
Woodward and Hannah Clark were joined in 
lawful marriage. Those who belonged to New- 
bury returned forthwith, and Hannah Clark, now 
Hannah Woodward, ran for Judge Ladd's. She 
had not been absent long enough to excite suspi-^ 
cion in the mind of any one. Hannah continued 
to do for Judge Ladd as heretofore, and Wood- 
ward labored on the meadow. 

At length, it was reported by Mr. Powers^ 
that he had married Woodward to Hannah Clark, 
not knowing that there was any secret to be 
kept. After some little time, a woman came 
over to pay a visit to Mrs. Ladd, and told her 
what a kind of a story was going the rounds in 



OF TUB COOS COUNTRY. 69 

Newbury, that James Woodward was married to 
Hamiah Clark. Mrs. Ladd told her, '' There was 
not a word of truth in the story ; that Wood- 
ward had been endeavoring to court Hannah, 
but they would not hear to it." The woman 
replied, " It was a little extraordinary that such 
a story should be made from nothing, and she 
had understood that it came from Mr. Powers. 
And do you knoio,^^ said she, "that it is not 
true?'' ''Why, yes," said she, "it cannot be 
true." At that moment she paused and reflect- 
ed, as though Hannah's walk with Hannah Fel- 
lows had just streaked across her mental horizon. 
"But," said she, "if I don't know, I will," rising 
up at the same time, and making for the kitchen, 
where Hannah was carding wool or tow : "Han- 
nah," said she, "they say you are married to 
James Woodward ; is it true?" "Yes, ma'am," 
said Haimah. " Then I have nothing more for 
you to do," replied Mrs. Ladd ; " I shall not part 
man and wife." Hannah put her cards together, 
laid them into her basket, rose up, and ran for 
the meadow, and lived happily with her husband 
forty years, and departed this life Oct. 21, 1805. 
Hon. James Woodward lived to the advanced 
age of eighty, and departed this life 1821. 

I perceive that Thompson, in his Gazetteer 
of Yermont, states that the crank for the first 



70 HISTORICAL SKETCHEI 

saw-mill in Newbury was drawn upon a hand- 
sled from Concord, N. H., to Newbury, Vt. 
Distance seventy miles. I suppose it could not 
have been much less than seventy miles from 
Concord to Newbury, since it is seventy-two 
miles from Haverhill Corner direct to Concord. 
They would have been much "nearer the true 
distance at that time, had they stated it at eighty 
miles. But the whole of this tour I have in 
minutes from the lips of two of the adventurers 
themselves. Judge Woodward and John Page. 
I do not know the precise number of men who 
went for the irons, but I think as many as six. 
They prepared a rude hand sleigh, I do not re- 
collect the technical name for it. They split a 
hard wood sapling, and shaved the two flat 
sides, as the cooper would do a hoop for a hogs- 
head. The flat and wide side was the bottom 
of the runner, and it was bent up forward, and 
the end being shaved down small, it entered a 
hole in a thick ribbon ; and the runner and rib- 
bon were supported apart by studs entering the 
runner and ribbon, or nave, at short distances 
from each other, from end to end. The cross- 
bars rested upon the ribbons. This vehicle se- 
cured several advantages. It was light ; the 
runners were wide, and would not readily cut 
through the snow ; the beams were high from 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 71 

the ground, so that rocks and stubs were not 
Ukely to strike the cross-beams. Being thus 
equipped, they took in their provisions and set 
sail with Hght hearts. There was more sport, 
however, in going to Concord with an empty 
sled, than in returning with a ponderous freight. 

facilis descensus Averni : 

Sed revocare gradum, 

Hoc opus, hie labor est. 

The snow was deep, and it proved to be & 
rery cold week, and before one half the distance 
was gained on their return voyage, they felt 
themselves exhausted by fatigue, and benumbed 
with the cold. They came through Hebron^ 
and came on to Newfound Pond^ because th© 
way was more level, yet the cold more severe, 
for they had not the forest to break the force of 
the wind. Having gained somewhat more than 
mid way of the pond, which is six miles in 
length, they made a halt, and took their seat* 
upon their sled for rest. Page arose and went 
some little distance to a glade, or opening in the 
ice, to drink, and when he returned, he found 
all his companions sinking down into a sleep, 
from which, if it had been indulged, no power 
short of Omnipotence could have aroused them. 
Page was not lost to a sense of his or their 
danger j the thought of which proved the ne- 



72 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

cessary stimulus to excite him to effort in re- 
deeming them from death. He cried out to 
them that they were all dead men, if they did 
not instantly awake, and bestir themselves. He 
seized them by their shoulders, shook them, and 
made them stand up ; and he so preached terror 
to their auditory nerves, that they revived, and 
resolved to make every possible effort to reach a 
camp in the woods ; and they were successful, 
and thus saved themselves alive. 

I speak of their reaching a camp. It may be 
proper for me to state in this place, that our fa- 
thers had taken the precaution to build camps 
on the route from Haverhill to Salisbury, one 
camp in every twelve or fifteen miles, and each 
was supplied with fireworks and fuel, so that a 
traveller could soon kindle him a fire ; and he 
had the boughs of the hemlock for his bed. 

But this same party came near perishing when 
they had arrived in sight of Haverhill, in the 
north-east part of Piermont ; and had it not been 
for Woodward to perform, for Page, in that in- 
stance, what Page had done for them upon the 
pond, they would have given up the ghost. But 
they were told it required but one effort more, 
and all danger was past but they gave way 
to sleep for a few minutes, as one of them pro- 
posed, they never would awake in the body. 



OF THE coos COUNTRY. 73 

They were induced to persevere, and they came 
in to Haverhill, where they found the blessings 
of a fireside, of food, comfortable lodgings, and 
anxious friends to sympathize with them. 

This saw-mill crank was the one which was 
so long in use at At wood's mills in Newbury, 
but I know not its location or its use at this 
time. But what hardships were these above 
related ! How unlike the condition of their 
children and grand-children ! How unequal are 
their descendants to such services ! Many of 
our young men would now groan under the task 
of travelling on foot from Haverhill to Plym- 
outh, a distance of thirty-two miles, on a road 
which may be passed over in safety, by horse 
and carriage, at the rate of ten miles per hour. 

But the memory of one man will carry him 
back to a different generation. There he will 
see a hardy race, minds trained to deeds of 
daring, and muscular powers seldom, if ever, 
surpassed. And these qualities did not appertain 
to the first settlers of Coos exclusively, but they 
characterized those several generations which 
felled our forests, subdued our soil, conquered 
savage men, destroyed the beasts of prey, made 
roads, built habitations, mills, school-houses, 
churches, supported the gospel, founded colleges 
and academies, sustained a war of eleven years 

r 



74 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

with the combined forces of French and In- 
dians, and finally gained our national independ- 
ence. They had a great work assigned them, 
and Providence fitted them, in an eminent de- 
gree, for the discharge of their duties. 

I will here mention, that roads direct from 
Haverhill to Boston were not opened until after 
the war of the revolution — I mean such as 
would admit the passing of heavy teams, and 
until then, the freight of goods from our sea- 
ports was very expensive. Heavy articles which 
were not brought up from Charlestown upon tlie 
ice, in winter, were brought on pack-horses 
from Concord through the woods, and ten bush- 
els of wheat have been exchanged for one of 
salt. The glass for Col. Thomas Johnson's 
house was brought across the woods in this 
manner ; and Col. Robert Johnson, Avho opened 
the first tavern in Newbury, in a house a little 
south of where his son Robert now lives, sup- 
plied his bar with spirits imported in the same 
way. This being the state of things in re- 
spect to roads, we shall readily conceive that 
the means for communicating between this iso- 
lated settlement and the eastern part of the 
state were rery limited, and were not an every 
day occurrence. A passenger arriving in the 
settlement with packages direct from friends in 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 



the east created a more lively interest in the 
settlers, than the arrival of the British Q^ueeii 
steamer now does in the great emporium of this 
nation. I will give an anecdote from Mr. Perry's 
sketches, illustrative of the state of things in 
these respects. The story comes from Richard 
Chamberlain, one of the first settlers. 

Early in the settlement of the Coos, it so 
happened that the annual Thanksgiving was 
passed, before intelligence of it arrived here. 
But soon after, a Dr. White came up to visit his 
friends at Newbury, and brought with him a 
proclamation. This proclamation was read pub- 
licly on the Sabbath by Mr. Powers, and by 
him it was proposed they should keep a thanks- 
giving, notwithstanding the time specified by 
the governor was passed. And he proposed the 
next Thursday, Upon this a member arose, 
and gravely proposed that it might be deferred 
longer; *-for," said he, ^' there is not a drop of 
molasses in the town ; and we know how impor- 
tant it is to have molasses to keep Thanksgiving. 
My boys have gone to No. 4, and will be back, 
probably, by the beginning of next week, and 
they will bring molasses ; and it had better be 
put off till next week Thursday." It was 
unanimously agreed to. But the molasses not 
coming, it was deferred another week -. and 



76 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

finally, Thanksgiving was kept without mola^ 
ses. This, which is enough to provoke a smile, 
will nevertheless show us the simplicity and 
destitution of those days. 

But from 1766 to 1769, we have no special 
occurrences to relate. The settlements contin- 
ued to increase, society to improve, and the 
means of subsistence rewarded the hand of in- 
dustry most bountifully. Indeed, the Coos 
'meadows became to other infant settlements, 
north and south of them, what the granaries of 
Egypt were to Canaan and surrounding nations, 
in the days of the seven years^ famine. An 
aged gentleman in Lyme, N. H., says, "he can 
very well recollect when they used to carry up 
their silver shoe-buckles to the Coos, and ex- 
change them for wheat.*' 

As to the state of religion in those years, we 
do not learn of any powerful revivals among the 
people, such as had been experienced in Whit- 
field's time, in many parts of New England ; or 
such as have since been experienced in those 
settlements. There are no church records to 
guide our bark in these polar seas ; but if 
there were revivals, in the modern sense of the 
term, the ancients would have told us of them. 
There were additions to the church from time 
to time, from both sides of the river, until it 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 77 

consisted of a goodly number of members. The 
Rev. Mr. Powers was a serious, godly man, and 
more distinguished, I should think, for his plain, 
faithful, and pungent preaching, than for grace 
in style or diction. He preached mostly with- 
out notes, and yet he generally studied his ser- 
mons. Those I have seen in print exhibit 
thought, arrangement, a deep knowledge of the 
Scriptures, and a soul full of the love of Christ 
and of the souls of men. His labors were 
abundant. As there were no ministers north 
of Charlestown, for some years after Mr. Powers 
settled at Coos, he was frequently called to 
attend funerals, weddings, and to preach lectures 
at infant settlements upon the river. Until 
there was a foot-path marked out upon the bank 
of the river for passengers, Mr. Powers used to 
perform his journeys up and down the river in 
his canoe. When he saw young men felling 
trees near the river, he would call to them, and 
say, if Providence favored him. he would preach 
to them in that place, on such a day, and at 
such an hour. These were welcome proposi- 
tions, generally ; and if there were other settle- 
ments near, they were informed of the appoint- 
ment ; and Mr. Powers, at the hour specified, 
would find his hearers seated on stumps and 
logs, all ready to receive the word. Mr. Powers 
7* 



7b HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

was characterized by his punctuality in meeting 
his appointments, and seldom, if ever, disap- 
pointed the assembly. 

John Mann, Esq., of Orford, told me that Mr. 
Powers passed down the river at a certain time, 
and gave out an appointment to preach at a par- 
ticular hour, on a subsequent day. But during 
his absence, there fell a great rain, which swelled 
the river, and increased the rapidity of the cur- 
rent very much. The people generally felt that 
he could not meet his appointment ; but they 
assembled notwithstanding, and waited to know 
the result. One man was very confident Mr. 
Powers would not, and could not return, and 
was disposed to charge their assembling to a 
stupid credulity in the people. But another man 
seemed to be confident he would return to his 
appointment ; and finally, a bet was made be- 
tween them. Neither one was pious. This 
altercation had awakened some interest in the 
audience generally, and all eyes were directed 
down the river. The appointed hour now drew 
on, and not more than twenty-five or thirty 
minutes remained in which Mr. Powers could 
make good his appointment, and he who bet 
against his return felt sure of his prize, for, if 
he v/as already in sight, he could not gain the 
ground within the time allotted ; but, more than 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 79 

thiSj no man or boat appeared in the river. But 
while all were anxiousj and looking, the boat, 
on a sadden, rode into full view, as by magic, 
and not half the distance from them as was the 
spot on which their eyes were fixed. He had 
kept so near the shore next to them, to avoid 
the force of the current, that they could not 
see him until he threw his boat into the stream 
to pass an obstruction ; and when he did appear 
so suddenly and so near, the assembly could not 
suppress their surprise and gladness, but wel- 
comed him with a shout which rebounded from 
hill to valley. Mr. Powers stood before them at 
the appointed moment. 

Col. Otis Freeman, of Hanover, related to me 
the particulars of the first marriage ceremony 
that was ever performed in that town. It was 
in 1767, and Mr. Powers officiated. Col. Otis 
Freeman attended the wedding. A transient 
man came into the town of Hanover, by the 
jiame of Walbridge, and made suit to Hannah 
Smith, daughter of a Mr. Smith, who lived on 
the place which Timothy Smith improved some 
years ago, and, for aught I know, does at this 
time. The parents of Hannah were very much 
averse to their daughter's connection with that 
man ; but she resolved, and so was resolved. 
Walbridge happened to see Mr. Powers one day 



80 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

descending the river in his canoe, and he hailed 
him, and desired to know if he could return by- 
such a day, and marry him at the house of Mr. 
Smith. Mr. Powers said he would do so, if 
Providence prospered him. He accordingly ap- 
peared at the house a little after sunset ; the 
guests were assembled ; the house being lighted 
up, the couple presented themselves, handed in 
their certificate, and wished Mr. Powers to pro- 
ceed. 

It was Mr. Powers' practice to call on the 
parents of the candidates for marriage to know 
if they had anght to object to the marriage ; and 
when, in this case, he called for the parents of 
the bride, behold, they were not there ! Mr. 
Powers wished to know if they were not living. 
"Yes, they were living, they supposed." He 
asked, if they were not in town. " They sup- 
posed they were ; but they did not know." 
" How long since they were seen here ?" " Just 
at night." "Are the parents averse to this mar- 
riage ?" " They supposed they were, some." 
" Could they not be brought to attend there that 
night ? If they could not, he should not pro- 
ceed to the marriage ceremony that night." 
This was an unpleasant predicament for all par- 
ties. But a lantern or a torch was found, and a 
scout was sent forth in search of the old folks. 



or THE coos COUNTRY-. 81 

They were found at the nearest neighbors, which 
was not very near, and after much persuasion, 
they were prevailed on to return home. 

All parties were by this time cool and col- 
lected. The parents took their seats in the 
middle of the room, between the minister and 
the anxious couple. Mr. Powers arose, and ad- 
dressing himself to the parents, said, '' Is this 
young lady your daughter?" They bowed as- 
sent. "Are you willing I should proceed to 
join this couple in marriage ?" The father fixed 
his eyes full on Mr. Powers some time, and a 
dead silence reigned, until Freeman saw the 
tears swelling in the old man's eyes, and his 
chin shook like an aspen leaf, and then came a 
sudden and convulsive response — '' Ym!" which 
electrified the whole of them. The a in yea 
was sounded as broad a in hall, and the e not 
sounded at all. All sympathized with the old 
people, and Mr. Powers could scarcely proceed 
V\^ith the ceremony ; but it was performed, and 
the connection proved an unhappy one. Wal- 
bridge was a worthless character. But this was 
the first marriage in Hanover, as Judge Wood- 
ward's was the first in Haverhill — the results 
widely different. 

Mr. Powers being thus known, and being 
generally loved and respected, did much to in- 



82 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

crease the settlement at Coos. Persons often 
attended worship there from Thetford, Orford. 
Bradford, and Piermont. There was one Deacon 
Howard, who Hved near the river in Thetford, 
who used to ride to Newbury often with his wife 
to hear Mr. Powers, and he loved him as his 
own soul. 

At this time there were no taverns between 
Charlestown and Coos, and adventurers were 
necessitated to stop at such houses as they could 
find for refreshment and lodgings. They had 
called on this Deacon Howard, some making him 
compensation, and some not, until his means for 
subsistence were running low ; and he had re- 
solved that it was not his duty to entertain any 
more strangers ; and this he could do more con- 
scientiously, as there was a sort of an inn opened 
for their accommodation three miles north of him. 

Mr. Powers, at a certain time, passed down 
the river on horseback, undiscovered by the dea- 
con, and as he was on his return home, he found 
he should be overtaken by the darkness of night 
before he could reach the inn, and as it began to 
rain just before he came to Deacon Howard's, he 
thought he would there stop and spend the night. 
He accordingly rode up to the door, in the dusk 
of the evening, and tapped with his whip upon 
the door. The deacon came to the door, and 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 83 

asked what he wished for. Mr. Powers replied, 
that he was journeying up the river ; that he 
was overtaken hy the night and by rain ; and 
he should Hke to put up with him for the niglit. 
The deacon answered in an abrupt and gruiT 
tone of voice, "I cannot keep you. Folks have 
come here until they have eaten me out of house 
and home, and we cannot consent to take you 
in." Mr. Powers replied that he was much 
fatigued, and he knew not how to proceed far- 
ther ; he would pay him whatever he was dis- 
posed to charge him. "No," said the deacon. 
'*I cannot keep you. There is a house for en- 
tertainment three miles ahead, and you must go 
there.'' 

By this time, the old lady had come forward, 
and was looking over her husband's shoulder, 
listening to the conversation as it proceeded : 
and as Mr. Powers began to turn his horse away 
from the door, she said to her husband, "It 
seems to me, that man speaks like Mr. Powers 
of Newbury." "Mr. Powers! no, he don't," 
said he. "' But why don't you ask him who he 
is ?" said she. " I don't care who he is," said 
he ; "I can't keep him ;" but, at the same time, 
stepping from his door, and advancing along after 
Mr. Powers, he said, " Where are you from, sir ?" 
" Newbury," replied Mr. Powers. " From Neic- 



84 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

bury 7^' '^Yes, sir." ^^ Well, you know the 
Rev. Mr. Powers, then, don't you?" ''Yes, 
very well." "And he is a very good man, aint 
he ?" '' Some have a good opinion of him," 
said Mr. Powers, ''much better than I have." 
'■ Well, you may go along." 

By this time, the old lady had come up to her 
husband in the rain, and as the deacon was turn- 
ing to go into the house, she said, " Husband, 
I verily believe that is Mr. Powers." On hear- 
ing this, he turned suddenly on his heel, and 
making rapid strides after the stranger, he cri^d 
out, " Sir, what is your name ?" " My name is 
Powers," was the reply. "You rascal ! ^^ ex- 
claimed the deacon ; and seizing him by one leg, 
drew him from his horse, held him fast until he 
got him into his house, and there he made all 
concessions to the man whom he loved above 
all others. A very happy interview they had 
of it, and the deacon continued to relate the par- 
ticulars of this adventure with peculiar emotions 
until the close of life. He related them to Dr. 
Burton, and the doctor to myself. 

Mr. Powers spent nearly twenty years at New- 
bury and Haverhill, and with the exception of 
the troubles which grew out of the revolutionary 
war, I believe their union was a happy and 
prosperous one. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 85 

Mr. Powers was a high whig, and by his 
preaching and efforts for the common cause of 
the colonies, he drew upon him the fierce re- 
sentment of the tories, and they threatened his 
life, which induced him to remove over into 
Haverhill, in the spring of 1781. This dis- 
pleased many of his friends in Newbury, and 
although he continued to preach in Newbury 
one half of the time, for a year or two, yet it 
resulted in his dismission from the church in 
Newbury, some time in 1782. But he preached 
still a year or two in Haverhill, and sometimes 
in Newbury, to particular friends ; but he finally 
left, and went and settled on Deer Isle, Me., 
where he closed his labors by his decease ia 
May, 1800, aged 72. He died of a cancer. 
When told by his son Jonathan, who was then 
a settled minister at Penobscot, Me., that he 
was dying, he looked around on his family, and 
replied, " The will of the Lord be done," and 
yielded up the ghost. Mrs. Powers was Martha 
Hale, of Sutton, Mass. She was an intelligent, 
pious, and superior woman. She survived her 
husband until January, 1802, and died suddenly 
while on a visit to her children in Newbury. 

To those who sat under the ministry of Mr. 
Powers, of whom there are some still living, 
and those who have looked upon him as their 
8 



gg HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

spiritual father, it will be pleasing to learn by 
what means their minister was prepared to 
preach to them the unsearchable riches of Christ. 
The facts which I shall here record I received 
from an eye and ear witness of what she related. 
It was the sister of the Rev. Peter Powers. 

I have already related that Mr. Powers was 
the oldest child of Capt. Peter Powers and 
Anna, his wife ; that they were the first settlers 
in the town of HoUis. I now relate that for 
about two years their nearest neighbor was at 
the travelling distance of ten miles, and this 
solitary family sustained all the privations and 
hardships which were incident to pioneers in 
these New England settlements. For about 
twelve years they had neither schools, or a 
preached gospel; but they carried with them 
the Holy Scriptures and the love of God m their 
hearts. Their children were instructed in the 
principles of the gospel, and they witnessed the 
Hessedness of godliness in the daily walk of 
their parents. At an early age, Peter became 
a devoted child of the Lord Jesus, and was en- 
deared to his parents by a thousand ties ; for 
they looked to him as their first helper, under 
God, and fondly hoped he would be their sup- 
port and solace in old age. But as Peter grew 
in years, a flame was kindled in his breast which 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 87 

could neither be extinguished nor suppressed, 
and his parents often heard him say, "He had 
an ardent desire to enjoy the advantages of an 
academic and a collegiate education." But as 
these seemed altogether incompatible with their 
circumstances, and militated against all their 
previous arrangements, those desires of the son 
were treated by the parents as visionary ; and 
inadmissible, and for a time no human ear was 
offended by the importunities of the son ; and 
the parents hoped that the subject was relin- 
quished and forgotten by him, until it was re- 
vived to them in the following manner : — 

These parents were of Puritan strictness in 
the government of their family, and neither 
their sons nor their daughters were allowed in 
ordinary cases to be absent from the family at 
nine o'clack in the evening, which was the hour 
of prayer. But it appeared on a calm summer's 
evening that Peter was absent at the hour of 
prayer ; nor did he appear when it was necessary 
to close and secure the house against the intru- 
sion of the Indians. The parents passed the 
night in agitation of spirits. At one moment, 
they trembled in view of his liaving fallen a 
victim to Indian treachery and violence, and 
their imaginations presented him pierced and 
lacerated upon the ground, or hurried away into 



88 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

a captivity more appalling than death. At an- 
other, time they were vexed with the apprehen- 
sion that their son had for the first time absented 
himself in wanton disregard of their views and 
feelings. The night was at length spent, and 
the father rose at the dawn of day ; and as he 
unbarred the door, he saw his young son emer- 
ging from the forest, and approaching the dwell- 
ing with a solemn and down-cast look. The 
father beheld his son with the mixed emotion 
of joy and resentment ; — -joy^ because he had re- 
ceived him safe and sound — resentment^ because 
he supposed there could be no adequate cause 
to justify the elopement ; yet he restrained him- 
self, and called for no explanation until the hour 
of prayer, when he was accustomed to adminis- 
ter reproof, if it was necessary. The family 
being seated, and a portion of Scripture having 
been read, the father paused, and fixing a reprov- 
ing look upon Peter, said, '' Where did you 
spend the night, Peter?" The son was exceed- 
ingly embarrassed, and did not return a prompt 
and explicit answer. The father more sternly 
repeats, '• Peter, where did you spend the night ?" 
Tne son faintly and meekly replied, while the 
tears coursed down his cheeks, " I spent it in 
the woods, sir." '' In the woods ?" said the 
father; ''Aoi^? did you spend it?" "In prayer. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 89 

sir." A pause of a moment succeeded, and the 
subdued soul of the father rushed to the eye, 
to seek the reUef whicli utterance now denied. 
But soon the father resumed the inquiry, and, in 
an altered and subdued tone, said, '' My son, 
what were you praying for, during the night ?" 
*• That I might go to college." '^ What would 
you go to college for, Peter ?" ^' That I might 
be prepared to preach the gospel to sinners." 
The father turned and looked upon Anna, his 
wife, in the deepest emotion, but could not 
speak. As soon as he possessed the power of 
utterance, he led in devotion, and as soon as 
Peter had gone out, the father said to Anna, in 
a soft and tremulous voice, ^' I do not see but 
we must give up the matter,^ and let Peter go to 
college." The result was a collegiate course, a 
life of eminent usefulness, a triumphant death, 
and that eternal reward which is promised to 
those who turn many to righteousness. 

Mr. Powers' dismission from Newbury church 
was the first step towards a dissolution of the 
union between Haverhill and Newbury in all 
ecclesiastical concerns; and it does not appear 
that they ever assisted each other in supporting 
the gospel afterwards. And the probability is 
each town was beginning to feel itself able to 
support preaching independent of the other. We 
8* 



30 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

find a proposition coming from Mr. Powers to 
Newbury church and society, so early as Decem- 
ber, 1781, "for an agreement between the town 
of Haverhill and the town of Newbury to be 
separate parishes." This proposition was un- 
doubtedly from the people of Haverhill, and 
therefore we find a vote of Newbury, December 
31, 1781, '' That the above committee treat with 
the town of Haverhill, relative to the Rev. Peter 
Powers." They also vote to make a settlement 
with Mr. Powers for all arrearages. Mr. Samuel 
Powers, of Newbury, son of the Rev. Peter 
Powers, and a very worthy citizen, says, "he 
can well remember the time of his father's dis^ 
mission from Newbury ; that Newbury church 
did not unite in the council for his dismission, 
and the council sat in Haverhill." But the 
church in Haverhill was not constituted a sepa- 
rate church until some years after the sitting of 
this council, an event to be noticed hereafter. 

I will in this place relate an extraordinary 
case of instinct in a cow, as related to me by 
Capt. Howard, and I relate it here, before I pro- 
ceed to the events of 1769, because it occurred 
hi the first years of these settlements. Col. 
John Hurd came into Haverhill at an early 
period of the settlement, from Portsmouth, and 
lived a little north of Moses Southard's, or the old 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 91 

Porter place, at Horse Meadow. He came first 
to Charlestown, and then up the river, as most 
others did. With him he brought a vakiable 
cow, which he turned upon the meadow, where, 
for aught that appeared, she was well content to 
abide ; but, after the lapse of a few weeks, the 
cow was on a sudden among the missing, and 
nothing could be found of her. They went 
through both settlements, and searched in vain ; 
no one had seen her. The colonel then em- 
ployed Indian runners to go in pursuit of her ; 
they were out one full week, and returned with- 
out her, but reported that they had been on her 
trail in Coventry ; but east of that, they could 
discover no trace of her. Hurd gave her up as 
lost. But the next autumn, there came a man 
from Portsmouth, bearing letters from friends, 
and in one of them it was stated that on such a 
morning, the old cow was found in the barn* 
yard from which she took her departure some 
months before. She was in good keeping. Now, 
we must consider, that from Portsmouth to 
Charlestown is at this day, in the most direct 
route, ninety-six miles ; from Charlestown to 
Horse Meadow nearly seventy miles ; and from 
Horse Meadow to Portsmouth cannot be less 
than one hundred miles, for it is the hypotenuse 
of the triangle, which has Portsmouth, Charles- 



92 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

town, and Haverhill for its angles. The cow 
unquestionably travelled all three sides of tho 
triangle ; and what seems most surprising is, 
that after travelling more than one hundred 
miles, as the roads then were, north of west, 
and much of that distance was woods, then 
more than seventy miles east of north, all woods, 
the cow should have kept in her mind the direct 
bearing of Portsmouth, and that she should have 
made the journey from Haverhill to Portsmouth, 
an entire wilderness, and have reached her old 
home in safety, without guide or protector. She 
might have fallen in with Barrington or Strat- 
ford, twenty miles north-west of Portsmouth, 
but she did not do it, probably, or she would 
have been taken up ; yet she performed her tour, 
and gained her destination. 

I now come to speak of events of 1769, and 
onward. It was in April, of this year, that Col. 
Charles Johnston came into Haverhill, and set- 
tled at the Corner. Col. Johnston was born at 
Hampstead, N. H., 1737. He married Ruth 
Marsh, of Londonderry, N. H., and came to 
Haverhill at thirty-two years of age. 

Col. Johnston had departed this life prior to 
my coming to Haverhill, and I am wholly de- 
pendent upon others for the information I have 
respecting him. But no man's character could 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 93 

be better established in the pubUc mind, and 
seldom can we find greater unanimity with the 
pubUc in bestovv^ing on one man the meed of 
commendation. There is still a blessed savor 
of him remaining in Haverhill and vicinity. 

I am in possession of an interesting occurrence 
wdiich took place on the journey of Col. Charles 
and his family from Hampstead to Haverhill. I 
have it in the hand-writing of Mr. Richard Wal- 
lace, of Thetford, Yt., who was born in Nova 
Scotia, in 1753, and, at the age of sixteen years, 
accompanied Mr. Johnston to Haverhill. I shall 
give it in his own words, with the correction 
of some errors in orthography and grammatical 
construction of sentences. Mr. Wallace's early 
opportunities for an education were limited, as 
nearly all were at that day ; but he sustained a 
character above suspicion for veracity, and had 
been a professed disciple of Christ many years 
when he wrote me this statement. He says : — 

"On the second da^^'s journey from Hamp- 
stead, N. H. (this was in April, 1769, in the 
afternoon of this day) my feet became tender 
and swollen, and much parboiled, as was the 
common phrase at that day. This caused me 
to fall in the rear of the family many rods. I 
then concluded I would take off my shoes and 
stockings, and travel bare-footedj expecting by 



94 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

this means to be able to overtake the family. 
But my feet being swollen, and stockings wet, I 
was hindered in drawing them a good while, 
and I fell far in the rear. I then hastened my 
steps forward as fast as I could, the sun being 
about a half an hour high at night, as near as I 
can recollect. After wading a large brook, I 
entered the eleveii-inile-ivoods, for the first time, 
in the upper part of Boscawen. I had not tra- 
velled far before I came to ice in the sled road, 
both in the middle and at the sides, although the 
snow was for the most part gone in the woods. 
But I made all the speed I could, till it was al- 
most dark, when I came to a brook or stream, 
that I dared not attempt to ford without day- 
light, nor could I find any tree fallen across the 
stream, on which I might pass over. But con- 
cluding I must stay there for the night, I went 
in immediate search of a convenient place to 
rest. I soon found a large tree fallen on the side 
of a knoll, the butt end lying up from the ground, 
leaving just room enough for me to crawl under. 
I took my long stockings, and drew the dry part 
of them on to my feet, and crawled under the 
tree, and being very tired, I soon fell asleep ; and 
I think it likely I slept two or three hours, or 
more — 1 cannot tell exactly. But my anxiety 
did not leave me when asleep; and when I 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 95 

awoke, I was very cold, as there was a hard 
frost that night. Besides this, I found myself 
saUited from all parts of the solitary and dreary 
wilderness, by all the animal inhabitants of the 
forest, like a band of instrumental music, the 
wolves taking the chief lead, and carrying the 
highest notes ; or something like a bass-viol and 
bassoon in their different strains. They did not 
appear to be far off, but did not come near me to 
offer any violence ; yet their noise was some 
alarming, and very disagreeable, since the whole 
region of the forest seemed to be alive with these 
different kinds of animals. By and by, some- 
body cried out over my head, and barked like a 
little dog, then again screamed in the voice of 
women, and laughed out like parrots. I had not 
learned their grammar, nor to raise and fall their 
notes, for I was but a boy from the sea coast, 
and had never heard the like before. But I 
thought I would not make any disturbance with 
them, if they would let me alone until morning. 
But as soon as morning appeared, I crawled out 
from under the tree, and suddenly screamed with 
all my might, " Stop your noise !" I was im- 
mediately obeyed. And behold, the noisy crea- 
tures over my head were no other than great 
owls, roosting upon a branch of a tree ! But I 
soon made ready to decamp, though my shoes 



96 HISTORICAL SKtiTCHES 

and stockings were so frozen, that I could only" 
get on my shoes shpshod. After some search, I 
found a log which enabled me to get over the 
brook, and I found the road, and I walked and 
ran as I could, some miles, and I reached Favor's 
tavern in New-Chester, that now is, just as the 
sun arose. Some of the company were up, and 
some getting up, and friends never came toge- 
ther in greater joy. I never shall forget how 
Col. Charles looked when he told me what con- 
cern he had had for me through the night. 

*' RICHARD WALLACE." 

I would, in conclusion of this narration, raise 
the inquiry of those youth of sixteen, into whose 
hands the above statement may come, whether 
they would covet such a night's rest ; and whe- 
ther such a serenade from the beasts of the wil- 
derness would be to them " some alarming, and 
very disagreeable !" 

When Col. Johnston arrived at Haverhill, he 
purchased the ground where Haverhill Corner 
now is, and located himself on the ground where 
Capt. Powers pitched his camp for the night, in 
July, 1754, and wrote in his journal, — ^' Here 
was the best of upland, and some quantity of 
large white pines/' 

I had it from the widow of Col. Johnston, 
who survived the death of her husband several 



OF THE eOOS COUNTRY. 97 

years, and died, in 1816, at the age of seventy- 
five, that when they came to Haverhill, and 
found themselves hemmed in on every side by 
those towering trees and a dense underwood, she 
became very much discontented, and endured 
for some time all the melancholy and depression 
which arise from home-sickness. When suffer- 
ing from the strongest paroxysms of this malady, 
she would sometimes go out to her husband, 
while he was felling trees upon what is now the 
common, and relate her distresses to him, in 
hopes that he might be induced to relinquish his 
hold on Coos, and return to their friends at the 
east. But the colonel, to amuse her, and to dis- 
sipate her melancholy, would seat her upon a 
large stump, and then begin to describe to her 
the future village which they should erelong wit- 
ness in that place. '^ On such a line would be 
the main street ; on such a spot the court-house 
would stand ; the academy would occupy such 
a site, and the meeting-house stand there .'" For 
the moment, she would seem to fancy it a real- 
ity ; but the next sober thought would dissipate 
her relief, and she would excleum, '' Mr. John- 
ston, there can't be any such thing ! I know 
there can't. It never will be in this world !" 

It is probable that the colonel thought as little 
of this ever being reahzed by them as she did ,• 
9 



93 HISTORICAL SKETCfiES 

and yet they both hved to witness^ almost to 
a jot and tittle, those very predictions fulfilled. 
Aud no man in that town ever contributed more 
towards converting that wilderness mto a Jq- 
hghtful village than Col. Johnston. He was 
laborious and prudent, yet generous and brave. 
He accumulated a handsome estate ; and by 
his beneficence, he often caused the poor, the 
widow, and the fatherless to sing for joy, and 
their blessings came u}X)n him. 

He was a man of great muscular jx)wers, and 
he often put them forth, not to foment quarrels 
and broils, as is often the case in a rude state of 
society, but to suppress outbreakings and fight- 
ings : and those who were acquainted with him, 
refrained from those hostile attacks in his pre- 
sence, for they knew the colonel would imme- 
diately stand between the parties, the advocate 
of }:>eace and good order. 

It IS related of him that he was passmg the 
inn at the Corner, at a certain time, just when 
two strangers, who had met there, fell into a 
violent contention, and came to blows. The 
rencounter was sharp and bloody ; but, as the 
colonel's custom was, he walked up to the com- 
batants, and placing his hands gently upon their 
shoulders, began to expostulate with them in 
the kindest manner, when they mutually left 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 99 

beating each other, and commenced deahng 
blows at him, who would have set them as one 
again. Upon this, the colonel held one in each 
hand firmly by the shoulder, and suddenly ex- 
tending his arms to the right and left, he threw 
the assailants apart, but brought them agani in 
contact, face to face, in front of him, with such 
power, that before this was repeated the third 
time, they called out for quarter, nor did he let 
go of them until they promised to be at j^ixce 
with each other. 

It was said in his day, and is said to this day, 
that Col. Johnston was a peace-maker, both in 
ciiurch and state. I have one instance of this, 
given by Mr. Wallace, who lived with the colonel 
after they came to Haverhill. He says, in a 
letter bearing date December 25, 1828, "' Esquire 
Charles was the only justice of tlie poace in 
Haverhill prior to 1773. I will relate one anec« 
dote of liim in honor to his memory, and for a 
pious example for his descendants and others. 
Soon after his appointment for justice of the 
peace, there came a man to him with an earnest 
request for a writ against one of his neighbors. 
Esquire Johnston put him off by relating to him 
the unhappy consequences of neighbors gomg 
to law with each other ; and recommended that 
he should go home and see his neighbor in a 



100 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

subdued temper of mind, and see if he would 
not pay him. The man went away, but soon 
returned with a bitter complaint, and demanded 
a wi'it^ The colonel left his business, called for 
his horse to be saddled, and said to the man, ' I 
am going with you to see if this matter cannot 
be settled without expense and strife.' When 
they came to the man so much complained of, 
the colonel told him his business, and that he 
eame for the salce of peace. The man told him 
he was ready to settle the account, and ahvays 
had been ; and before they separated, all mat- 
ters were adjusted, and the men parted in friend- 
ship." How much expense and strife might be 
avoided annually, if all our magistrates were of 
the same stamp f We say, "Blessed are the 
peace-makers." 

I have another anecdote of the colonel, related 
to me by Esquire Jonathan Hale, of Coventry, 
N. H., who was knowing to the story. A poor 
man of Coventry bought a cow of Col. Johnston 
upon credit. The cow was the principal support 
of the family; but after she had been kept 
through the winter, she sickened and died at the 
opening of spring. The man was distressed in 
view of the wants of his family, for he saw no 
way of relief He knew it would be next to 
impossible for him to purchase a cow at that 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY 101 

season, as it was generally known that he was 
still owing for the cow that he had lost ; and he 
had nothing to pay for that, or another. He 
felt that he could not go to Col. Johnston for 
another, while he was still owing him for the 
first ; but as it is said, " Hunger will break 
through a stone wall." so the distresses of his 
family impelled him to return to Col. Charles, as 
he was the only njan living who inspired him 
with a gleam of hope. He went, and found the 
colonel at labor in his field. He related to him 
his disaster, and his distresses. The colonel 
sympathized with him deeply, and knew not 
what he could do. The poor man then told him 
his object m visiting him. which was to see if 
he could not obtain another cow of him. The 
colonel told him, '' He did not see how he could 
supply him, for they had but two cows that 
season, and they were going to building, must 
have an unusual number of laborers, and they 
should need all that could be afforded by two 
cows." The poor man replied, '^ I did not come 
to you, colonel, with this request, supposing that 
you could relieve me without great inconve- 
nience to yourself, and a sacrifice of interest, yet 
I was emboldened to make known my necessity." 
Tl*e colonel paused in silence for a time, and 
manifested that there v%^as a deep conflict be- 
9* 



102 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

tween his sympathies and his circumstances. At 
length he said, "I will go to the house and see 
what Mrs. Johnston says," They went to the 
house, and the colonel related to his wife what 
had befallen the man, and what was his present 
object. Mrs. Johnston very naturally exclaimed, 
'^ You are not a going to let one of our cows go, 
are you?" And here she related what a de- 
mand they would have that season for both 
cows. The colonel heard her through patiently, 
and then said, ^' Do you not think that we can 
do better with one cov/, than this poor man can 
do, with his young children, without any ? " 
Mrs. Johnston was silent. The colonel turned 
to the man, and said, *' You will take my cow." 
The poor man took his cow, and returned joy- 
ously with her to his family. How blessed is 
fellow-feeling ! and still more blessed, when it 
is cherished by true piety and benevolence ! If 
I know my own heart, I would rather have this 
written of my son, than leave him in possession 
of the most splendid crown in Europe. I have 
wondered a thousand times, and still wonder, 
why men of wealth do not secure to themselves, 
more frequently than they do, the happiness 
which Col. Johnston experienced in sending that 
man home with a light and grateful heart. We 
have no means of knowing whether that poor 



OF THE COOS COUNTRV. 103 

man was ever able to remunerate the colonel or 
not. No matter. If he did not, the Lord has 
done it, a thousand fold, and verily, there i$ a 
reward for the righteous. 

I hav€ spoken of the extraordinary muscular 
powers of Col. Johnston. I must relate one 
more event in his life, illustrative both of his 
physical power and of his courage. At the 
time when the New Hampshire troops signalized 
themselves at the battle of Bennington, under 
Gen. Stark, Col. Johnston was there, and su^ 
tained a part in the brilliant achievements of 
that ever-memorable day. After Col. Baum had 
surrendered to the American troops, and the 
battle was renewed by the arrival of Col. Brey^ 
man. Col. Johnston, in obedience to orders from 
Gen. Stark, was necessitated to pass through a 
narrow strip of woods on foot and a]one, to bear 
some orders to another division of the American 
army. He had no weapon of defence but a 
stout staff, which he had cut in the woods that 
day, as he was passing on to Bennington from 
New Hampshire. Thus equipped, he came sud- 
denly upon a British scout, in ambush, placed 
there to intercept communications between the 
different divisions of the Americans. The party 
in ambush was commanded by a Hessian heu- 
tenant. As Johnston came up, this offioer stepped 



104 HirrORiCAL SKEtCHES 

forth, sword in hand, and claimed him as his 
prisoner. The word was no more than uttered, 
before the sword was struck from the hand of 
the officer by Johnston's staff, and as soon did 
Johnston have possession of that sword, and 
}X)inting it at the breast of the Hessian, declared 
to him, that he was that moment a dead man, 
jf he and his party did not throw down their 
amis. The officer turned to his men and said, 
*' We are prisoners of war." The soldiers threw 
down their arms, and Johnston marched them 
before him to the American lines, where they 
were received by our troops. 

The colonel returned with the sword to his 
family, and presenting it to his only son, Capt. 
Michael Johnston, now of Haverhill, said, " This 
sword was won by valor — let it never be retaken 
through cowardice." The sword I have seen. 
It was a splendid article of the kind. There 
was a good deal of writing upon it, formed by 
etching, and the officer's name, which I do not 
now recollect. This sword, I have been told, 
was brought forth and exhibited for the mourn- 
ful gratification of spectators on the day of the 
colonel's funeral solemnities. I am told that 
It was the colonel's expressed wish, before his 
death, that that sword might descend from him 
in the hne of the oldest male heir, and that it 



Ot THE COGS COUNTRY. 105 

has already gone into the possession of the Rev. 
Charles Johnston; of the town of Locke, Cayuga 
County, N. Y. 

Col. Johnston was the first captain in the 
town of Haverhill ; was for many years a justice 
of the peace ; a colonel, a representative of the 
town many years; a judge of probate, and a 
deacon in the church. Col. Johnston's house 
was surrounded by a fort at Haverhill Corner, 
during the revolutionary war, as was Judge 
Ladd's, a little north of the old meeting-house, 
on Ladd street ; also, Capt. Timothy Barns*. 
who lived near the tavern, opposite the meeting- 
house, in the north parish in Haverhill. Col, 
Johnston departed this life, March 5, 1813, aged 
seventy-six. 

In the summer of 1770, this whole section 
of country was visited by an extraordinary cala- 
mity, such a one as this country never experi- 
enced before or since, beyond what I shall here 
specify. It was an army of worms, which extend- 
ed from Lancaster, N. H., to Northfield, in Mas- 
sachusetts. They began to appear the latter part 
of July, 1770, and continued their ravages until 
September. The inhabitants denominated them 
the '^ Northern Army," as they seemed to advance 
from the north, or north-west, and to pass east 
and south, although I do not learn that they ever 



106 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

passed the high lands between the Connecticut 
and Merrimack Rivers, They were altogether 
innumerable for multitude. Dr. Burton, of Thet- 
ford, Tt, told me that he had seen whole pastures 
so covered that he could not put down his finger 
m a single spot, without placing it upon a worm. 
He said, he had seen more than ten bushels in 
a heap. They were unlike any thing which the 
present generation have ever seen. There was 
a stripe upon the back like black velvet ; on 
either side^ a yellow stripe from end to end ; 
and the rest of the body was "brown. They 
were sometimes seen not larger than a pin : but 
in tlieir maturity, they were as long as a man's 
finger, and proportionably large in circumference. 
They appeared to be in great haste, except when 
they halted to devour their food. They filled 
the houses of the inhabitants, and entered their 
kneading-troughs, as did the frogs in Egypt. 
They would go up the side of a house, and over 
it. in such a compact column, that nothing of 
boards or shingles could be seen ! They did not 
take hold of the pumpkin-vine, peas, p»otatoes, 
or flax ; but wheat and com disappeared before 
as by magic They would climb up the stalks 
of wheat, eat off the stalk just below the head, 
and almost as soon as the head had fallen upon 
the ground, it was devoured. To prevent this. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 107 

the men ■would " draw the rope," as they termed 
it ; that is, two men would take a rope, one ai 
each end, and pulling from each othe: until it 
was nearly straightened, they would then pass 
through their wheat fields, and brush off the 
worms from the stalks, and by jjerpetual action 
they retarded the destruction of their wheat ; 
but it was doomed, finally, to extinction. 

There were fields of corn on the meadows in 
Haverhill and Newbury standing so thick, large, 
and tall, that in some instances it was difficult 
to see a man standing more than one rod in the 
field from the outermost row ; but in ten days 
from the first appearing of the Northern Army, 
nothing remained of this com but the bare stalks ! 
Every expedient was resorted to by the inhabi- 
tants to protect their fields of corn, but all in 
vain. In the first place, they dug trenches 
around their fields, a foot and a half deep, hopmg 
this might prove a defence ; but they soon filled 
the ditch, and the millions that were in the rear 
went over on the backs of their fellows in the 
trench, and took possession of the interdicted 
food. 

The inhabitants then adopted another expe- 
dient to save those fields yet standing. They 
cut a trench as before ; then took round and 
smooth sappling sticks, of six or eight inches 



108 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

diameter, and six or eight feet in length, sharp- 
ened them to a point, and with these made holes 
in the bottom of the ditch, once in two or three 
feet ; and, as their meadows were bottom lands, 
they experienced no difficulty in extending these 
holes to two and three feet in depth, below the 
bottom of the trench. The sides of these holes 
were made smooth by the bar or lever which 
made the holes, and as soon as the worm stepped 
from the precipice, he landed at the bottom, and 
could not ascend again ; indeed, he was soon 
buried alive by his unfortunate fellows, who suc- 
ceeded him in his downfall. Now, those who 
made these holes to entrap their invaders, went 
around their fields, and plunged these pointed 
levers into the holes filled with worms, and de- 
stroyed every one of them at a single thrust, 
whether it was a peck or half a bushel. By 
unremitting effort in this way, some reserved to 
themselves corn enough for seed the next year. 

About the fii*st of September, the worms sud- 
denly disappeared ; and where they terminated 
their earthly career is unknown, for not the car- 
cass of a worm was seen. In just eleven years 
afterward, in 1781, the same kind of worm ap- 
peared again, and the fears of the people were 
much excited ; but they were comparatively few 
in number, and no one of the kind has ever been 
seen since. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 109 

This visitation, which destroyed the principal 
grains of that year, was felt severely by all the 
new settlements ; for it not only cut off their 
bread-stuffs, but it deprived them of the means of 
making their pork to a great degree, and reduced 
the quantity of fodder for their cattle. The set- 
tlements at Haverhill and Newbury did not feel 
this calamity quite so much as those infant set- 
tlements in the towns north and south of them. 
They had been longer in their settlements, had 
some old stock of provisions on hand, and had 
more means to procure supplies from Charles- 
town, or by the way of Charlestown. Jonathan 
Tyler, of Piermont, related to me, that the set- 
tlements in that town were left without the 
means of subsistence from their own farms. His 
father drew hay on a hand-sled upon the ice, 
from the great Ox Bow in Newbury, to support 
his cow the following winter. And had it not 
been for two sources opened for their support, 
they must have deserted the tov/n. One was 
the extraordinary crop of pumpkins in Haver- 
hill and Newbury. The corn being cut off, and 
the pumpkins remaining untouched by the North- 
ern Army, they grew astonishingly, and seemed 
to cover the whole ground where the corn had 
stood, and the yield was great. The people of 
Haverhill and Newbury gave the settlers in 
10 



110 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Piermont the privilege of carrying away, gratis, 
as many pumpkins as they would. They went 
up, made a kind of raft, and transported them 
by water to Piermont. Their raft was a novelty 
in its kind, and will show us how truly " neces- 
sity is the mother of invention." They cut 
them two straight trees from forty to fifty feet 
111 length, and from fifteen to eighteen inches in 
diameter : and enough of these were generally 
found, already felled and dry, to answer their 
purpose. They bored holes near the ends of 
these trees, and introduced slats to hold them 
together at each end, in the manner that the long 
body of a hay-cart is made, only at twice or 
thrice the distance from each other that the sides 
of a hay-cart are placed. These two sides were 
first placed in the water, and then joined toge- 
ther. The pumpkins were then brought from 
the fields, which were contiguous to the river^ 
and placed in the water, in this oblong square, 
until it was filled : the pumpkins, being buoyant, 
would not sink, and could not escape from their 
pen. Two men in a skiff would then weigh 
anchor, and tow the raft of tons' weight to Pier- 
mont shores, where the freight was landed, and 
conveyed to the habitations of men ! 

Another source of support was opened to them 
in the immense number of pigeons which Provi- 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. lil 

dence sent them immediately upon the disap- 
pearance of the Northern Army. Nothing could 
equal their number, unless it was the worm^ 
which had preceded them. The Tylers of Piei- 
mont, Daniel, David, and Jonathan, commenced 
taking pigeons on the meadow, west of Haver- 
hill Corner, and in the space of ten days, they 
had taken more than four hundred dozen ! They 
carried them to Piermont, and made what }> 
defined, in the Yankee vocabulary, " a bee,'- for 
picking pigeons ; and two or three times a week 
the people of Haverhill were invited down to 
Mr. Tyler's to pick pigeons. Those who weni 
had the meat of all they picked, and the Tylers 
had the feathers ; and they made, says Jonathan 
Tyler, '• four very decent beds of those feathers." 
The bodies of those pigeons, when dressed, dried, 
and preserved for the winter, were very palatable 
and nutritious, and proved a good substitute for 
other meats, of which the inhabitants had been 
despoiled by the Huns and Goths of the north. 
And we are bound to recognize the Divmc 
Goodness in this providential supply, when the 
ordinary means of subsistence were cut off. It 
generally characterizes the Divine Government, 
when He has tried his people. 

I have already stated that the first settlers at 
Goos, a number of them, at least, pitched their 



112 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

tents upon the meadows, with a view of making 
their permanent residence there, but were driven 
off by a flood in 1771. Mr. Wallace, of Thet- 
ford, has furnished me with some particulars 
relative to that freshet. He says, this was a 
destructive flood to many of the settlers. Some 
of their fields were buried in sand to the depth 
of two and three feet, and they not only lost 
more or less of their crops for that year, but 
their soil for a number of years. Some of their 
habitations were invaded and taken possession 
of by the water. Wallace went to the relief of 
a family in Bradford, who lived on the place 
now owned by Mr. Hunkins. It was the family 
of Hugh Miller. His wife was the sister of the 
far-famed Robert Rogers, the hero of St. Fran- 
cois. When Wallace reached this habitation, he 
rowed his canoe into the house as far as the 
width of the house would receive it, took the 
family from the bed whereon they stood, and 
bore them to a place of safety. But Mrs. Miller, 
the next day seeing their few sheep standing on 
a small eminence on the meadow, surrounded by 
water, her husband being absent, resolved or 
rescuing them from their perilous situation. She 
pressed into her service a young man by the 
name of George Binfield, and they took a canoe, 
and set sail for the sheep. They reached the 



OF THE COOB COINTRY. 



113 



place, caught the sheep, tied their legs, placed 
them on board, and set out on their return voy- 
age to the high lands; but when they came 
into a strong current, they were carried down 
stream, until the canoe struck a pine stub, and 
was capsized. All were precipitated into the 
water of the depth of ten feet. When our 
heroine arose, and her companion in adventures, 
they caught hold of a stub standing about fivp 
feet out of the water, and manitained their grasp 
until another boat was obtained, and they were, 
liberated from their perilous situation ; but the 
wrecked canoe and sheep were never heard from 
more. From this time, the people sought a 
more elevated situation for their habitations. 

Jonathan Tyler, of Piermont, related an ex- 
traordinary fact which occurred in this great 
freshet. He said, a horse was tied to a log in a 
stack-yard, upon the great Ox Bow, in Newbury, 
and when the water arose, it took away the 
horse and the log to which he was made fast, 
and the horse was taken out of the river in 
Hanover alive, but soon died upon reaching the 
shore. He would, doubtless, have perished soon 
after breaking from his moorings in Newbury ; 
but the log to which he was tied kept his head 
above water, and prolonged his life many hoars. 
Col. Howard told me^ that in this same freshet 
10* 



114 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

some swine were taken away by the water in 
the north part of Haverhill, and were carried 
down to the Ox Bow, where they made good 
their standing upon the top of a hay- stack, 
where they remained capering about until the 
waters subsided, and the owners procured their 
property again. This calamity was not of equal 
extent with that of the Northern Army ; but it 
was so intimately connected with it, it was se- 
verely felt, and it seemed as though God had a 
controversy with these people. 

We m.ay learn something of the facilities for 
travelling south and east from Haverhill Corner, 
so late as 1771, by the following facts. Jona- 
than Tyler came into Piermont in the autumn 
of 1768, and he says, '' They seldom attempted 
to ride on horseback to Haverhill for several 
years after they came to Coos, owing to the 
badness of the road ;" and I have heard it said 
by Judge Ladd and others, that a man from 
Charlestown came to Haverhill, and mired his 
horse so deeply on Haverhill Common, near 
Towle's tavern, that was, that he had to procure 
assistance to extricate the animal ; and the horse 
was rendered so lame as to be unable to proceed 
on the journey for some days. 

About this time, Col. Charles Johnston and 
several others had been to Plymouth, and thought 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 115 

they would return by Tarleion's Pond. They 
were retarded by the roughness of the traveUing. 
beyond their expectations, and they were over- 
taken by night-fall. They made their way for 
a time by feeling of the trees to see if they 
were spotted ; but they at length could feel no 
spots, and despaired of finding a settlement, or 
camp, that night ; and making a virtue of neces- 
sity, they resolved to stand upon their posts like 
good soldiers, and wait for the return of day. It 
was a long night ; but day at length dawned upon 
them, and, to their surprise and joy, they found 
themselves posted near the little brook, east of 
the establishment of Andrew Martin, one hun- 
dred and fifty rods, perhaps, east of the colonel's 
own habitation ! For this reason, and because. 
1 think, the brook is yet nameless, I would call 
It Happy Brook, we and our ciiildren, forever ! 

In the autumn of 1772, John McConnel and 
family left Pembroke, N. H., for the Coos, and 
when they came upon Baker's River, the intelli- 
gence reached Haverhill that they were advan- 
cing. Upon this, Jonathan McConnel, brother 
of John, went forth on horseback to meet them, 
and to render them assistance. The next morn- 
ing early, Richard Wallace left Col. Johnston^s, 
on horseback, to go out and render them still 
further aid, taking in a freight of provisions. 



116 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Jonathan McConnel met the family sixteen miies 
from Haverhill, took one of the children and 
ftome baggage, and set out for Haverhill. Wal- 
lace met Jonathan returning near the height of 
landj and he promised to stop at the camp near 
Eastman's Brook, and wait until Wallace and the 
family should come up, and all spend the night 
together. Wallace proceeded on, and met the 
family near night. They were in a miserable 
plight. They were all on foot, without shoes 
or stockings, and an old beast, a mere apology 
for a horse, staggering under the weight of a few 
necessary articles for the family ; some scolding, 
some crying, and some laughing. It was soon 
agreed that Wallace should take tvv^o of the chil- 
dren, one a huge girl of twelve years, and ano- 
ther of two years, (which would have been the 
infant, had there not been another younger,) and 
return to Easiman's Brook, and the rest of the 
family was to reach there, if possible. 

But in carrying this resolve into effect, Wal- 
lace n>et with an unexpected embarrassment. It 
would be impossible for the girl of twelve to 
hold on, in passing the sloughs and over logs, to 
nde in the usual manner of females. But as 
Wallace was at his wit's end to know how to 
arrange matters to his mind, the mother stepped 
forwaKl, and, by a single flash of her genius, cut 



OF TEF COOS COU^?TRY. I IT 

the Gordian knot. " In fa'th," said she, '' there 
must be a leg on each side o' the horse/' And 
so the girl came into Haverhill. 

But as Wallace ascended the height of land. 
he became pretty well convinced that the family 
could not make Eastman's Brook that night, and 
as there was a camp on the height of land, which 
they must pass, he dismounted, took a loaf of 
bread, run a pole through it, and raised it above 
the top of the camp outside, for the double pur- 
pose of keeping it from the wolves, and of 
exhibiting it to the family ; but, by some fatali- 
ty, they did not see it, and passed on ; but as 
they did not reach the camp at Eastman's Brook, 
they laid out all night, without food or covering. 

Wallace had a hard task of it, likewise ; for 
when -he came to the camp at Eastman's Brook, 
where Jonathan McConnel proposed to stop, and 
to have a fire for their comfort, he found no 
McConnel, no fire, and not any thing to make 
one of. McConnel had concluded to make Ha- 
verhill that night, and leave the rest to shift for 
themselves, Wallace now found himself under 
the necessity of pursuing his journey under cir- 
cumstances '•' somewhat alarming, and very dis- 
agreeable," as he said in a prior adventure. 
Beside this great lump of animated nature hold- 
ing on to him in the rear, he carried the child 



118 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

of two years before him ; and as the night (\iew 
on. it became drowsy, and sunk down into his 
arms very heavily. For a time, he kept it awake 
by calUng its attention to the howhng of the 
wolves in the vicinity : but at length nature 
was overpowered, and the child sunk down mto 
a profound slumber, and he bore it mto the 
Corner in this condition. They arrived at Col. 
Charles' house at twelve at night, a fall moon 
favoring them. The colonel was up, and had a 
good fire, some expecting them, from what Jona- 
than McConnel had told him. But Wallace wa^ 
«o much exhausted by fatigue, and benumbed 
by the cold, that he fainted on coming to ihe 
fire. The family arrived the next day, and m 
just six months from that time the girl whom 
Wallace bjousht im was married to Jonathan 
Tyler, of Piermont, at the age of twelve years; 
<jtnd six mofiths. The Rev. Peter Powers mar- 
ried them. This was the first marriage in Pier- 
mont. 

At the time when these events, already stated, 
occurred, and for some years afterwards, it was 
not the expectation of the people at Coos, that 
they should ever have a road through to Plym- 
outh for loaded teams, but their hopes rested on 
Charlestown for heavy articles ; and the first 
time an ox-team went through,, it was effected 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 119 

by a company, who went out expressly for the 
purpose, with Jonathan McConnel at their head. 
It was an expedition that excited much interest 
with the inhabitants at home, and the progress 
of the adventurers was inquired for from day to 
day ; and when they were making Haverhill 
Corner upon their return, the men went out to 
meet and congratulate them ; and, as they came 
in, the cattle were taken possession of in due 
form, and conducted to sweet-flowing fountains 
and well-stufFed cribs for the night. Their 
metsters were served in the style of lords, sind 
their narrations of the feats of " Old Broad" at 
the sloughs, the patient endurance of " Old Ber- 
ry" at the heights, and the stiff hold-back of 
''Old Duke" at the narrows, were listened to 
by their owners, with the liveliest demonstra- 
tions of joy. 

What feeble impressions do the children and 
grand-children of those early adventurers have 
of the difficulties which their ancestors sur- 
mounted to put their descendants into their pre- 
sent inheritance ! Nor is the change greater in 
the face of the country, and in the condition of 
the roads, than it is in many other things. Con- 
template the then state of schools. Mr. Wal- 
lace, to whom I am indebted for so many facts 
m respect to the first settlers, writes, that when 



1*20 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

he came to Haverhill, in 1769, at the age of six- 
teen, he did not know his alphabet, could not 
write his name, and his first attempt at writing 
was upon birch bark, with a turkey's quill. He 
further thinks that in 1772, not more than one 
school could be found in every ten miles, on 
either side of the river, from Orford to the Up- 
per Coos. These were generally constituted by 
a few neighbors combining and hiring an in- 
structor for a few weeks in the winter ; their 
teachers being very inadequate, and their only 
books the Psalter and Primer. Compare these 
means with those now enjoyed by the rising 
generation ; and let those who have made them- 
selves merry by reciting the grammatical errors 
and orthographical blunders of their ancestors, 
perform a more splendid part in the great drama 
of human life ; or let them ingenuously confess 
that they are debtors to those who received little, 
but did much, and left an example worthy of 
imitation by all their descendants ; for it is to be 
had in lasting remembrance, that by these men, 
thus educated, our freedom was obtained, and 
those institutions founded, which are our bless- 
ing and our boast, and are the admiration of the 
world. 

Speaking of the first settlers, Mr. Wallace 
further says, '' Those who first settled Haverhill 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 121 

and Newbury were, for the most part, men of 
some property, and were able to furnish them- 
selves with land, some stock, and tools, to hire 
laborers, and, in a short time, their houses were 
well furnished, for that day. They were labo- 
rious, prudent; and economical, but were very 
kind to the poor and sick. They Avere strict in 
their religious principles, and all attended reli- 
gious worship on the Sabbath, neither men nor 
women esteeming it a hard service to travel on 
foot, four or six miles, with children in their 
arms, to hear the gospel." 

Another class of persons, he mentions, that 
were in more indigent circumstances. They 
labored hard in the house and in the field, and 
whose earthly fare was coarse, and sometimes 
scanty. Their beds consisted principally of 
straw, and it was no unconmion thing for fami- 
lies to lie on the floor, and some on the ground, 
before the fire. Their bowls, dishes and platen 
were all of wood, although in a few families, a 
little pewter was seen. This class of persons, 
he relates, more generally settled in Piermont 
and Bradford, although there were families there 
m more eligible circumstances. The style of 
living in all the settlements was similar where 
they possessed the means. Boiled meat, peas 
or beans, and potatoes, formed their repast at 
11 



122 



HISTORICAL SKETCHEg 



noon ; at night and morning, pea or bean broth, 
and sometimes milk porridge ; '' but/' says Mr. 
Wallace, ''we never thought of having meat 
more than once a day, and I never drank a cup 
of tea during the three years and a half that 
I lived at Coos.'' Many wore Indian stockings 
and moccasons of raw hide, when tanned leather 
could not be obtained; and some of the wealthier 
had Indian blankets cut into box coats, and 
wore huff caps. Their clothing, in general, con- 
sisted of linen. 

I will now leave the settlements at Coos for a 
time, in their peaceful and thriving situation, 
and proceed to give a concise history of some 
of the settlements in towns south of them, 
which brought neighbors to Haverhill and New- 
bury, and opened the wilderness between them 
and Charlestown. For seven years subsequent 
to the settlement of Coos, there was no inhab- 
itant in the town of Piermont. But in the 
spring of 1768, Ebenezer White, Levi Root, 
and Daniel Tyler, came into the town, and set- 
tled on the meadows. In the autumn of that 
year, David Tyler, wife, and son Jonathan came 
on from Lebanon, in Connecticut. This is that 
Jonathan Tyler, who married Sarah McConnel, 
as already related. Tyler relates that wild game 



OP TUE COOS COUNTRY. 123 

was exceedingly abundant in Piermont ni the 
winter of 1769. Moose yarded upon the mea- 
dows that winter. Bears, wolves, and deer were 
ever present, and some of them quite officious. 
Several years after David and Jonathan Tyler 
came into the town, a bear came into their barn- 
yard at different times, '• while men slept, "^ and 
destroyed their sheep. This was sport for Bruin, 
but death to the Tylers. At length, Jonathan 
Tyler was aroused to a just sense of the injury 
and indignity inflicted upon them, and he re- 
solved on revenge. He procured three guns, 
and charged them heavily with powder and ball, 
and retained them as "minute men," for any 
emergency. A few nights after this array of 
defence, Tyler heard the cry of distress in his 
yard. He sprang from his bed. threw on some 
light article of dress, seized his guns, and sallied 
forth, breathing slaughter and death. As soon 
as he came near the yard, he saw his bearship 
devouring his prey beneath his feet. Without 
preamble or apology, the three guns were *' let 
off" in rapid succession, and every ball took ef- 
fect. One penetrated his heart, and the assassin 
fell dead upon liis prey, a huge enemy to the 
fleecy fold. 

At this time, Tyler says, they went to Gen. 
Morey's mill at Orford, for grinding, which mill 



124 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Stood near where Capt. Baton's mill now stands. 
He had been to Charlestown for seed corn ; and 
to Northfield, Mass., in a canoe, for bread-stuffs. 
But this must have been when the crops were 
cut off at Coos. 

At one period of this settlement, the greater 
portion of the inhabitants bore some one of the 
following catalogue of names: — Root, Crook, Cox, 
Stone, Daley, and Bailey. They employed Dr. 
Samuel Hale, of Orford, for their physician. He 
was a high free-liver, and a facetious character, 
and used to amuse himself by speaking of his 
patrons in Piermont in the following couplet : — 

'' The Roots, and Crooks, and Elijah Daley, 
Coxes and Stones, and Solomon Bailey." 

But the merry doctor had to bear the expense 
of his own amusement ; for when these families 
came to learn the use he made of their names, 
they took it in high dudgeon, and would never 
afterward employ him as their physician. 

Jonathan Tyler, of whom I have spoken re- 
peatedly, served his country in the time of the 
revolutionary war, and when our troops retreated 
from Ticonderoga, at the approach of Burgoyne's 
army, he was taken captive, but did not remain 
long in captivity. The manner of his escape 
was on this wise : — He was held as a prisoner 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 125 

of war for a time on the west side of Lake 
George, now called Lake Horican. For a time, 
he and two or three others of his fellow-prison- 
ers were kept in •' durance vile," and were 
watched with the utmost vigilance ; but as they 
manifested no uneasiness themselves in their 
novel circumstances, their masters began to vtr- 
lax their vigilance, and they were permitted' to 
go among the British troops, and to labor with 
them. At length, tlie British determined on 
building a block-house on the east side of the 
lake, and Jonathan Tyler, Daniel Bean, and an- 
other by the name of Cowdry, volunteered to 
go and help build it. After laboring a day or 
two, their axes needed grinding, and they were 
permitted to go to a spring of v/ater just over a 
rise of ground, to bring water for grinding, and 
for other uses of the company. A bark had 
been laid down into the fountain, which con- 
ducted the water off, and rendered it very con- 
venient in taking water at the lower end of the 
spout. Tyler hung his pail on the end of this 
spout, and while it was filling, he, Bexm, and 
Cowdry, concluded to take Fre^ick leave, and 
cid so ; and Tyler says, " He don't know but 
his pail hangs there yet." But the poor fellows 
had like to have penshed with hunger. They 
left without a particle of food, ^nd without 



!26 BISTORICAL SKETCHES 

arms and ammunition, and the first four days 
after their elopement, while they were hid in 
the woods west of the Hudson River, they had 
nothing to satisfy the cravings of hunger but 
leaves, buds, and twigs of trees, and the roots 
which they dug out of the ground. And be- 
tween the Hudson and the Connecticut, they 
sustained a like fast ; but when they came to 
settlements in the Connecticut Yalley, they were 
the happiest of mortals, and concluded they had 
done their part towards the achievement of our 
independence. David Tyler and wife, the pa- 
rents of Jonathan Tyler, both lived to a great 
age. They attained to nearly ninety-five years. 
The Congregational church was constituted 
in this town in 1771. The Rev. John Richards 
was settled as their pastor in 1776, and labored 
with them twenty-six years, and took a dismis- 
sion in 1802. The Rev. Jonathan Hovey was 
settled over them in 1810, and continued his 
labors five years. Rev. Robert Blake com- 
menced his labors among them in 1819, and 
continued them, with some interruptions, until 
1836. The statement in the Gazetteer of New 
Hampshire, that the first settlement in Piermont 
was in 1770, is an error. 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 127 

ORFORD. 

The town of Orford, which is ten miles south 
of Haverhill, and seventeen north of Hanover, 
was first settled in 1765. Daniel Cross and wife 
were the first who came into the place, from 
Lebanon, Conn. They came in June of this 
year, and pitched their tent near where the Saw- 
yers afterward settled, upon the river road, south 
of Orford village. John Mann, Esq. and wife, 
whose maiden name was Lydia Porter, both of 
Hebron, Conn., came into Orford in the autumn 
of 1765. Mann was twenty-one years of age, 
his wife seventeen years and six months. They 
left Hebron on the 16th of October, and arrived 
in Orford on the 24th of the same month. They 
both mounted the same horse, according to Pu- 
ritan custom, and rode to Charlestown, N. H., 
nearly one hundred and fifty miles. Here Mann 
purchased a bushel of oats for his horse, and 
some bread and cheese for himself and wife, and 
set forward — Mann on foot ; wife, oats, bread 
and cheese, and some clothing, on horseback. 

From Charlestown to Orford there was no road 
but a horse-track, and this was frequently hedged 
across by fallen trees ; and when they came to 
such an obstruction, which could not be passed 
round, Mann, who was of a gigantic stature, 
would step up, take the young bride, and set 



128 HISTORICAL S-KHTCHES 

her upon the ground ; then the oats, bread and 
cheese ; and, lastly, the old mare was made to 
leap the windfall ; when all was reshipped, and 
the voyage was resumed. This was acted over, 
time and again, until the old beast became impa- 
tient of delay, and coming to a similar obstruc- 
tion, while Mann was some rods in the rear, she 
pressed forward, and leaped the trunk of a large 
tree, resisting all the force her young rider could 
exert ; and when Mann came up, which he did 
in a trice, there lay the bride upon tlie ground, 
v:\i\i all the baggage resting upon her. The old 
creature, however, had the civility not to desert 
them in this predicament, and as no bones were 
broken, and no joints dislocated, they soon re- 
sumed their journey : Mann, for the rest of the 
way, constittited the van instead of tlic rear 
guard. 

When they arrived in Orfurd, they very natu- 
rally made Daniel Cross' tent their first resting 
place. They were received with all that cor- 
diality and hospitality which characterize tliose 
who are separated from all friends, and are en- 
closed by the solitudes of a vast wilderness. 
Gross had reared a shelter for his cow adjoining 
bi-s own tent, and for that night the cow was 
ejected, and Cross aiid his wife occupied her 
aptartment, while Mann and his v.ife improved 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 129 

the parlor. But they were doomed to a sad 
adventure that night. Cross had felled a large 
tree, the butt end of which constituted no incon- 
siderable portion of one side of his house. Into 
this log he had bored two holes, about four feet 
apart, and sharpening two sappling poles, he had 
driven them horizontally into the log, to form 
the two side pieces of a bedstead. The other 
ends o( the poles were supported by two perpen- 
dicular posts, in the manner of ordinary bed- 
steads. Elm bark served for cord and sacking. 
This rigging was adequate to sustain Cross and 
his companion, a light couple ; but when Mann 
and his partner came into possession, it was 
another affair. Mann was of gigantic stature. 
Soon after all had retired to rest, this frail fabric 
of a bedstead suddenly gave way with a loud 
crash, which frightened the tenants of both 
apartments prodigiously. Mrs. Mann screamed, 
and this was suddenly responded to from Cross' 
apartment, " What is the matter ?" But after 
mutual explanations and apologies, Mann and 
his wife resumed a recumbent position upon the 
floor, and enjoyed a refreshing sleep, with the 
exception of an occasional interruption from a 
sudden burst of laughter in the cow apartment, 
where Cross and his wife lay, reflecting upon the 
startling scene through which they had passed 



130 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

unscathed. Esquire Mann related this adven- 
ture after he was more than eighty years of age, 
and he did it with that impassioned emotion, 
which tended to impress the mind of the hearer 
as though it was an event that had recently 
transpired. 

vSoon after Mann came to Orford, he took a 
log-canoe near where Cross lived, and ascended 
the river to the place where Orford bridge now 
is. He went ashore to reconnoitre and to spy 
out the land. The soil supported a huge growth 
of wood and a dense underbrush. The surface 
was covered with a tall, thick, and white moss, 
and had every appearance of being boggy. Mann 
thought he would penetrate a little way into the 
forest, and take some care and not needlessly 
wet his feet. He accordingly stepj^ed with cau- 
tion^ jumped from one little mound to another, 
and when he got upon a windfall, he would im- 
prove the whole length of it. But while thus 
making his way, he lost the centre of gravity. 
when on an old log, and fell to the ground. But 
instead of plunging into a bog, as he expected, 
he came '^ plump on to hard and dry soil," that 
beautiful bottom land which he and others have 
so long cultivated to great advantage. 

Mrs. Mann, after they were settled in their 
own tent, went to the river, and brought all the 



or THE C003 COUNTRY. ISI 

water they used in a three-pint basin, with the 
exception of washing days. 

John Mann, Jan., Esq., was the first EngUsh 
child born in the town, May 21, 1766, and if 
now living, must be in his seventy-fourth year. 
The same autumn in which Mann came into Or- 
ford, Jonathan and Edward Sawyer, Gen. Israel 
Morey, and a Mr. Caswell, all from Connecticut, 
came in and settled. 

The first church in Orford was constituted in 
1770. The Rev. Oliver Noble, their first minis- 
ter, was ordained, November 5, 1771, and was 
dismissed, December 31, 1777. Then there 
was an interregnum of about ten years, and the 
Rev. John Sawyer was ordained over them, Oc- 
cober 22, 1787. He continued with them but 
about eight years, and was dimissed, 1795. Rev. 
Sylvester Dana was ordained over them, May 
20, 1801. He continued their pastor twenty-one 
years — dismissed, April 30, 1822. Rev. James 
D. Farnsworth was ordained, January 1, 1823. 
Mr. Farnsworth has been dismissed, and he has 
a successor, Mr. Campbell ; but the dates of 
those events I must leave to my successor in 
gathering statistics. 

Mr. Mann relates that when he came into the 
town, and for some years after, deer and bear 
were very numerous, and some moose in the 



132 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

east part of the town. He has been up on the 
elevated ground, east of the river road, after a 
new-fallen snow, and seen deer tracks almost 
as plentifully imprinted as we see sheep tracks 
where the latter are yarded. 

As Mann came on from Charlestown, he found 
in the town of Claremont, two openings by 
young men of the name of Dorchester. In 
Cornish there was but one family, that of Moses 
Chase. In Plainiield there was one family, 
Francis Smith. The wife was " terribly" home- 
sick, and she declared she '• would not stay 
there in the woods." In Lebanon, there were 
three families, Charles Hill, son, and son-in-law, 
a Mr. Pinnick. In Hanover there was one fam- 
ily, Col. Edmund Freeman, and several young 
men, who were making settlements. In Lyme, 
there were three families, all by the name of 
Sloan — John, William, and David. This state- 
ment diflers materially from what we find in the 
Gazetteer of New Hampshire in respect to the 
first settlers in those towns. But I have long 
since lost all confidence in gazetteers, when 
they attempt to give facts anterior to recorded 
facts, and they never can be depended upon, so 
long as no better means are employed than those 
which have been used to gain information. The 
method has ordinarily been to write to some 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 133 

post-master, justice of the peace, or some other 
man, and request him to furnish them with the 
early settlement of the town, both recorded 
facts and traditionary tales. But where is there 
a man, who, upon such an application, will de- 
vote one week to the examination of records, or 
to visit the aged to gain information? Not one, 
we believe, in fifty, if there is one in a hundred. 
And in most cases, it would require all of one 
month to make a correct report. In general^ 
there is not one line on record in regard to first 
settlers. Their records begin with the charter, 
which might have come into existence years 
before the settlement, or years afterward ; but 
most persons are ready to take it for granted, 
that their town was settled the year it was char- 
tered, and that some of the first names specified 
in the charter were the first settlers. But no- 
thing can be more uncertain than this. Besides, 
every town has its favorite stories derived from 
tradition, which they wish to establish ; and 
almost every man wishes to bring forward his 
ancestors to figure as principal characters, which 
never were such, and, it may be, never were 
distinguished for any thing, unless it were stu- 
pidity or knavery. But this application fur- 
nishes him with an opportunity to palm upon the 
public a bloated account of his pedigree, and, 
12 



J34 HISTOP.ICAL SKETCHES 

instead of going to the ancient records, if there 
are any, or to tlie aged, he sits down and writes 
what is most satisfactory to himself, and it soon 
appears as matter of history. I need not specify 
particular instances of this fraud. They are 
many. Almost every town, if they should 
make a thorough investigation, will find that 
they have been misrepresented, and in some in- 
stances grossly insulted. I invite the attention 
of the ueople of Haverhill, especially, to these 
remarks. I would not diminish the interest 
which the public may feel in Farmer and Moore's 
Gazetteer of New Hampshire. They have done 
well Every family ought to possess it. It is 
worth a million of Thompson's Gazetteer of 
Vermont ; but they ought to have sent a com- 
petent agent into every town in the state to 
collect statistics, before they had published. 
Lebanon is made the first town settled north 
of Oharlestown, before Haverhill or Newbury, 
contrary to the united testimony of the first 
settlers in all the towns above them. Esquire 
Mann and Esquire Otis Freeman agree in their 
statement in respect to Lebanon. Has Lebanon 
authentic documents to show that their town 
was settled as early as 1760, or the spring of 
1761 ' They can show that their town was 
■^Martered then •. but can they show that it 



OF THE COOS COUNTRV. 136 

was settled 7 If they can, let the truth stand. 
Plainfield, Mann and Freeman tell us, had one 
family m it in 1765 ; our Gazetteer shows us 
two men there, L. Nash and J. Russell, in 1764, 
and the next year, when Mann and Freeman 
came through, 1765, it tells us of a church or- 
ganized, and a settled minister. Rev. Abraham 
Carpenter. Has the town these documents? 
If they have, it is the first instance in which I 
have found the first settlers deviating from tlie 
truth ; but they harmonize with wonderful ex- 
actness when we compare all their statements. 

I have nothing further to speak of Lyme, that 
is prior to what is recorded and published. The 
church, according to the Gazetteer, was consti- 
tuted in 1772. Rev. William Conant was set- 
tled as their pastor in 1773. Rev. Nathaniel 
Lambert, previously settled at Newbury, Vt., 
was settled in Lyme in 1811. Rev. Baxter 
Perry was settled, 1821. The Rev. Erdix Ten- 
ney is their present pastor. 

The first family which came into Hanofer 
was that of Col. Edmund Freeman, who lived 
in the east part of the town. He came in May. 
1765, from Mansfield, Conn. He brought with 
him a wife and two children, and his brother, 
Otis Freeman, then of the age of seventeen. 
Several other young men came in the same 



136 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

season. Deacon Jonathan Curtis and son came ; 
but he did not move his family until 1766. Col. 
Edmund Freeman gave the name of Hanover 
to the town. 

I have already related the circumstances of 
the first marriage in the town. The first death 
which occurred was that of a child in the family 
of Deacon Benton ; it died of consumption at 
the age of fourteen months. The first meeting- 
house was built of logs, and stood near the river, 
between Timothy Smith's and Mr. Tisdale's. 
The proprietors of the town first employed the 
Rev. Knight Saxton, of Colchester, Conn., to 
preach to these settlers in the summers of 1766 
and 1767. Subsequently, Dr. McClure, of Bos- 
ton, was employed to preach to the people ; and 
Eden Burroughs, D. D., of Stratford, Conn., who 
had been previously settled at Killingly, Wind- 
ham Co., Conn., was installed over this church 
and people in 1772. Dr. Burroughs was dis- 
missed in 1809, and Rev. Josiah Towne was 
ordained, June, 1814. Mr. Towne has been 
dismissed, and another clergyman has been set- 
tled ; but I know not his name. 

A full and satisfactory account of the origin 
of Dartmouth College, in the town of Hanover, 
of its progress and prosperity, has been given to 
the public through different channels, and is so 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 137 

far above my feeble praise, it needs not to be 
further noticed in these sketches. 

I now pass on to the west side of the river. 
and speak of the settlement of Norwich. Vt. 1 
shall relate a plain story, which I took from the 
lips of Rev. Asa Burton, D. D., of Thetford. Yt.. 
when he was at the age of 72, and sound botli 
in mind and body. He relates that his father, 
Jacob Burton, of Stonington, Conn., came to 
Norwich first in the summer of 1764, and viewed 
the country for the purpose of locating himself, 
provided he was suited with appearances, ''At 
that time," he says, " there was no inhabitant in 
the town." The next year, 176.5, his father 
returned to Norwich, and laid out a part of the 
town into lots ; and in June, 1766, he came with 
Asa, his son, then in his fourteenth year, and 
some other hands, and built a saw-mill, a little 
west of Norwich Plain. Dr. Burton says, '• There 
were then but two families in the town ; one by 
the name of Messenger, who lived at the west 
end of the present bridge leading from Hanover 
to Norwich ; and a Mr. Hutchinson, who lived 
near where the Military Academy now stands. 
Hanover Plain was at this time a thick pine 
forest." Messenger and Hutchinson came into 
Norwich either in 1765, or the sprhig of 1766. 
12* 



138 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

He further says, '^ There was no minister; at 
that time, nearer than Newbury and Haverhill- 
at Coos ; but in a few years Mr. Conant settled 
at Lyme, Dr. Burroughs at Hanover, Mr. Isaiah 
Potter at Lebanon, and Mr. Lyman Potter at 
Norwich." Where, now, is Rev. Mr. Carpenter 
of Plainfield, in 1765, at the distance of twelve 
or fourteen miles from Norwich ? 

But now for Thompson's Gazetteer of Ver- 
mont, published at Montpelier, in 1824. He 
has it, that in 1763, Jacob Fenton, Ebenezer 
Smith, and John Slafter, came into Norwich 
from Mansfield, Conn.; that at this time, there 
were two men settled in Hanover ; that in July, 
Smith and Slafter left Fenton on Wednesday, 
for the purpose of hoeing com in Lebanon, and 
that on their return on Saturday, at evening, 
they found Fenton dead in their camp. It ap- 
peared afterwards, that a Mr. Freeman, of Han- 
over, happened over at Norwich, and found 
Fenton sick, tarried with him until he died, and 
then went to Lebanon to procure help to bury 
him, and he was buried, July 15, 1765 ; that 
there were four families moved into Norwich in 
1764, and from that time, the settlement ad- 
vanced mpidly. Novv^, for the correctness of 
this statement. He says, that in 1763; there 
were two men in Hanover, and one of them, at 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 139 

least; Avas a Mr. Freeman. But the very Mi 
Freeman here alkided to, which was Col. Otis 
Freeman, gave me the particulars of his finding 
Fenton sick in his tent — he had had a fit ; and 
that it was the same year he and his brother 
came into Hanover, viz., 1765. Thompson 
further states, that Fenton was taken sick, and 
died in July, 1763, and was buried, July 15, 
1765. According to this, there were but three 
years which intervened between his death and 
burial ! But this might be OAving to his sudden 
death, and the extreme warmth of the season. 
Again, four families moved into Norwich in 1764. 
and from this period the settlement advanced 
with considerable rapidity. But in 1765, when 
they concluded to bury Fenton, they had to de- 
pend on Freeman, of Hanover, to go after Smith 
and Slafter to Lebanon, to procure help for the 
burial, and Fenton is left "alone"' in the town! 
Now, let us take this which way we will, it is 
nothing but jargon ; and it shows conclusively 
that there was not one moment given to the 
examination of dates by the compiler of this 
work, but whatever was sent to him in the 
form of a statistic, was received as authentic. 
I notice these egregious blunders to confirm 
what I have already said, that gazetteers cannot 
be relied upon for statements which are not sup- 



i40 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

ported by written documents. And I have an- 
other object in view, which is, to show those 
who would be compilers of gazetteers, that they 
have something to do besides calling for crude 
papers, and publishing them. No man ought to 
think of publishing another gazetteer, either of 
New Hampshire or Vermont, in a less compass 
than nine hundred pages of large octavo, first 
expending three thousand dollars in collecting 
and arranging materials, and then giving it to 
the public at three dollars per copy. 

There is but one apparent discrepancy be- 
tween Dr. Burton's statement, and Col. Otis 
Freeman's. I say apparent, because it can be 
easily reconciled. Dr. Burton says there were 
but two families in the town when he came in 
1766 ; whilst Freeman says. Smith and Slafter 
were there in 1765, and the families mentioned 
by Burton bore the name. Messenger and Hutch- 
inson. But suppose Smith and Slafter were 
there in 1766, Burton was not speaking of single 
men, but ot men with families. I find the first 
settlers made this distinction in all their state- 
ments. Again, nothing was more common than 
for young men to come in, and labor one sea- 
son, and then retire, and we never hear of them 
again : they have sold out to another ; or they 
were in the service of another man. Smith and 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 141 

Slafter might have been in Norwich in 1765. 
and not in 1766, but there again in 1767. But 
we must keep in mind that Mr. Jacob Burton, 
father of Asa, said there was no one in the town 
in 1764. 

I again take up the thread of history. Asa 
Burton continued to labor for his father until he 
was twenty-one years of age, at Avhich time he 
entered upon his studies preparatory for college, 
under the tuition of Mr. John Smith, subse- 
quently the professor of the learned languages 
in Dartmouth College, and he entered college in 
a little more than one year from the commence- 
ment of his studies. 

There was one adventure of young Burton. 
at the age of eighteen years, which deserves a 
place in these sketches, and which cannot fail 
to call the attention of the people of Norwich to 
times gone by. A large female bear had fol- 
lowed a cow belonging to Jacob Burton, until 
they both came near the house ; when the bear 
was discovered by one of the sons of Jacob 
Burton, and was driven off from the cow on to 
a ledge of rocks, north of Norwich Plain, and 
east of the road which runs north and south. 
But the young man was not content with releas- 
mg the cow from danger, but he determined to 
worry the bear : and as he saw she was clamber- 



142 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

iiig up the rocks to pass over the ledge, he ran 
round, and gained the top of the ledge first ; 
and here he hallooed Asa, who was chopping on 
the plain south of them. As soon as Asa heard 
the call, he ran at the top of his speed with his 
axe to the scene of action. By this time, the 
bear had ascended to the verge of the rocks, 
where Asa's brother stood, and she seemed in- 
clined to contest for a prior claim she had to a 
passage that way. Asa saw the predicament of 
his brother, and fearing he should lose his game, 
if the bear made good her standing on the top 
of the precipice, he pressed up the rocks in the 
rear of the bear with all the haste he could pos- 
sibly make. This inspired his brother aloft with 
fresh resolution to keep the bear from gaining 
the top, and with kicks and thrusts he succeed- 
ed in keeping her below the precipice. And so 
sharp was this contest, that the bear did not ap- 
pear to notice the approach of her assailant in 
the rear, until Asa drew upon her with the head 
of his axe, and laid the blow upon her rump, 
which knocked her down : and as he was un- 
acquainted with the hardiness and strength of 
the bear, he supposed the victory was already 
achieved ; but she soon found her legs again, 
and plied them with greater diligence than ever 
in making her escape. The bear now relin- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRV. 143 

quished her hope of ascending the precipice, and 
commenced descending the hill in an oblique 
direction, with Asa pressing hard upon her rear. 
But in his endeavors to surmount some wind- 
falls over which the bear had passed, he fell 
backwards upon the ground : at which mo- 
ment the bear turned back, sprang upon the log, 
showed her terrific teeth, and appeared in the 
very attitude of leaping upon him. This was 
the first moment that taught young Burton his 
danger, and it brought him upon his feet with 
new inspiration, and he resolved that henceforth 
he would neither give or take quarter. He 
made at the bear with redoubled fury, and com- 
pelled her to retreat down the hill, and as she 
came near the base, she became entangled among 
the logs, and here our young hero made a second 
onset, and fetched her to the ground ; then turn- 
ing the edge of the axe, he sunk it into her 
throat to the very bone, and the victory was his. 
This bear was of the largest class, and gave 
tokens that she was then employed in rearing 
her young. My only remark in the conclusion 
is, that others may kill bears, and I will record 
their deeds. 

The Rev. Lyman Potter was ordained over 
the church and congregation in Norv/ich, in 
1775, and was dismissed, 1800. Rev. James 



144 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Woodward was installed over this church and 
society, 1804. ' Previous to 1820, a new church 
and society was formed upon Norwich Plain, 
and the Rev. Rufus W. Bailey was settled over 
them in 1820, and was dismissed in 1824. Rev. 
James Woodward was dismissed from the north 
church, and the Rev. Samuel Goddard was in- 
stalled their pastor, 1822. The Rev. Thomas 
Hall has been settled over the church and society 
upon the Plain, but is now dismissed from that 
charge. 

Thetford was first settled, in 1764, by John 
Chamberlain, from Hebron, Conn. And in 1765, 
at the time when Esquire Mann came into Or- 
ford, there were two other families, one by the 
name of Baldwin, and the other by the name 
of Hosford. Chamberlain was very industrious, 
and somewhat parsimonious withal, and soon 
rose to a kind of independence of his neighbors, 
which he, as well as they, seemed to be fully 
conscious of. Chamberlain did not rise, how- 
ever, above the reach of envy, and the wags of 
that day selected him for their butt, at which 
they aimed their pointed arrows of wit and sar- 
casm. It was not long before Chamberlain was 
furnished with a penultima to his gift name, as 
he seemed to feel that his parents had wronged 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 145 

him in infancy by deciding that he should bear 
the undignified appellation — John^ it being only 
a monosyllable. He was, therefore, dubbed 
Quail John J for what reason I have never 
learned ; but it adhered to him through life. 
And in proof of the fact that the Muses either 
preceded in their flight to this section of coun- 
try the first settlers, or very soon followed their 
trail, I will put down some lines which were 
composed, and often repeated in the hearing of 
him whose praises they would celebrate : 

"■ Old Quail John was the first that came on, 
As poor as a calf in the spring ; 
But now he is rich as Governor Fitch, 
And lives like a lord or a king." 

Fitch, to whom reference is here made, was 
one of the governors of Connecticut about these 
days. But Chamberlain was destined to higher 
and less perishable honors than the simple elon- 
gation of his name. To him was born the first 
English child that was ever born in the town ; 
his name was Samuel. 

Thetford did not settle a minister until the 
summer of 1773, when a man by the name of 
Clement Sumner was installed their pastor. We 
know not the place of his nativity. He gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1758, settled in Keene, 
N. H., June 11, 1761, and was dismissed, April 
13 



14(3 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

30, 1772. He remained in Thetford but little 
more than two years. He became a tory, left 
there without asking for a dismission, and went 
to Swanzey, N. H., \vhere he became a Univer- 
salist preacher, and continued in that persuasion 
until his death. He was the source of much 
trouble to the town of Thetford. He took from 
them a fine right of land which fell to him by 
settlement, and divided the church and town. 
Wallace says, ''He was no more fit to preach 
than a fox is to make a gold watch." We do 
not learn that there was ever any lack of fellow- 
ship between him and his Universalist brethren 
at Swanzey. 

Wallace settled in the west part of Thetford, 
six miles from the river, where he lived to an 
advanced period of life. He relates a distressing 
scene which was occasioned by an alarm that 
was spread through the country in the summer 
of 1777. Wallace was at Charlestown, N. H., 
when an American scouting party came in with 
a British scouting party, as prisoners of war, 
from Burgoyne's army. Upon these prisoners 
were found papers, purporting that three detach- 
ments of British soldiers and tories were to be 
sent out to the Connecticut valley — one to New- 
bury, one to Royalton, and one to Charlestown, 
N. H. This was nothing but a stratagem of 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. ^^^ 

Burgoyiie's to divert the Americans from his 
army, and the scout was sent out for the purpose 
of being taken with these papers on their hands 
and it succeeded wonderfully. The news spread 
through the country hke electricity. 

Wallace made all speed for Thetford, and 
found on his arrival that the people liad gamed 
the imelligence that they were to be invaded Dy 
the enemv, and they were pressing m for the 
river from Strafford and other settlements, m the 
utmost consternation. This was done by order 
of the Committee of Safety. Strafford was lite> 
rally emptied. There were a number of tones 
in that town. There were eight brothers in one 
family went over to the British at once, and 
they carried some others with them ; and their 
property was all taken and sold for public use. 
Those who remained true to their country's 
cause expected to feel the vengeance of these 
enemies; and when Wallace cam.e home, he 
met, between the place where Thetford meeting- 
house now stands and his habitation, men, wo- 
men and children, who had forsaken houses and 
lands, and every thing which they could not 
conveniently carry ; some in carts, some on sleds, 
some in sleighs, in mid-summer, and some on 
foot. They had their hands full of light arti- 
cles of clothing, and packs stuffed upon their 



148 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

backs, and were driving before them cattle, 
horses, sheep, and swine. The mixed noise of 
these different kinds of animals, and the cries 
of women and children, who expected to be 
overtaken every minute, murdered and scalped 
by the infuriated Indians, tories, and British, 
were enough to affect the stoutest heart. Wal- 
lace was looking out for his wife, whom he sup- 
posed to be in the caravan ; but they all passed 
him, and he saw nothing of his beloved Creusa. 
Several times he was confident that bright image 
appeared to his view in the motley throng ; but, 
as they advanced, behold ! it was another, and 
not she — 

" tenuesque recesslt in auras." 

Wallace now put spurs to his steed, that he 
might the sooner dissolve the doubts which had 
arisen in his own breast, and allay the anxiety 
he felt for his better self. When he arrived at 
his hut, he found his wife sticking by the stuff. 
Having no horse or oxen to aid her in trans- 
porting the goods to the river, she had resolved 
to wait and see if there was cause for all this 
trepidation and flight. She had, however, com- 
menced carrying their household stuff into the 
woods, and covering it with bushes, that it might 
not fall into the hands of the invaders, should 
they suddenly appear. They both completed 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 149 

the work which his wife had so heroically com- 
menced, and then both mounted their horse, and 
rode for the settlements at the river. The next 
day, Wallace and another took a team, and went 
and brought in the goods ; and as soon as they 
were disposed of, Wallace enlisted to go in pur- 
suit of Burgoyne and his army, wisely conclu- 
ding it best so to press the lion in his den, 
that his whelps should not feel at liberty to go 
abroad and devastate the surrounding country. 
And this was the effect of Burgoyne's strata- 
gem generally. It returned upon his own head. 
After the surrender of Burgoyne and his army, 
October 17, 1777, Wallace returned to his hut 
in December, where he and his wife lived through 
the succeeding winter, without any chimney, 
hearth, or floor, except three or four loose boards 
to set their pole bedstead upon, that was corded 
with elm bark. 

Mrs. Wallace deserves distinct notice in this 
place. At the time of the alarm, Wallace had 
corn, oats, and potatoes growing on his newly- 
cleared land. After he had gone in pursuit of 
Burgoyne, and the alarm had somewhat sub- 
sided, Mrs. Wallace travelled out six miles to 
see to their crops. She found the oats ripe for 
harvesting, and many of them lodged. She was 
all alone, and no man could be procured to assist 
13* 



150 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

her in gathering them, for all that could be spared 
had gone to the field of battle. Nothing daunt- 
ed at this, she took a scythe and mowed them, 
dried them, raked them into bunches, bound 
them, and stacked them in good style. She 
then took an axe, cut poles, fenced them about, 
and then went back to the river. When her 
corn-stalks were ripe for cutting, she went out, 
cut them, bound them, and put them on the top 
of her stack of oats. In like manner she went 
out and gathered the corn, and dug her potatoes, 
and secured both. She then went to work at 
clearing some ground which had been felled, and 
was burnt over the year before ; and when her 
husband returned from the army, she had cleared 
and sown one acre of wheat ; and during the 
absence of her husband she had travelled, in 
going to and from the river, seventy-two miles ! 

The following year they procured some sheep, 
which they had to yard in a pen near the house 
every night, to preserve them from the wolves, 
which were numerous. Wallace being at work 
at the river on a certain time, Mrs. Wallace could 
not find her sheep to yard them at evening, and 
as soon as it came on dark, the wolves set up a 
frightful howling, as it seemed, within twenty 
rods of the house. What to do for the safety of 
her sheep, she did not know ; but on examina- 



OF THE COOS COUxNTRY. 151 

tion she found the gun was loaded ; she at once 
salUed forth and discharged the gun, to inform 
the wolves that something was there besides 
mutton. At twelve at night, she reloaded, and 
went forth and discharged her piece a second 
time. And before daylight, they heard from her 
the third time ; and at sunrise, she went out and 
found all her sheep near the pen, safe and sound, 
and the wolfish gentry swift on the retreat. 

This woman became the mother of eleven 
children, nine of whom lived to enter into the 
married state, and to have families. In 1828, 
these parents had fifty grandchildren, and five 
great-grandchildren. 

But the best part remains to be told. This 
woman served as an accoucheuse forty-five years, 
rode in seven towns, was present at the birth of 
twenty-one pair of twins, and one thousand, six 
hundred and twenty-four single births ; making, 
in all, one thousand, six hundred and sixty-six, 
and never lost a mother of whom she had the 
care. 

Gentlemen and ladies of 1840, sitting in your 
broadcloth, silks, and satins, what say you to 
these things ? Could not some things be done 
without steam, rail-road, or piano forte ? I would 
leave you to pleasant reflections. Fidelity in a 
historian is a jewel. 



152 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

There is one adventure of Wallace which 
must be recorded before we take leave of him. 
It took place in the fall of 1777, a little time 
before he returned to Thetford from the pursuit 
of Burgoyne, as I have already stated. I receive 
the facts in this case from two sources, viz. from 
David Johnson, Esq. of Newbury, Vt., to whom 
Wallace and Webster both related the story, and 
from the Hon. Simeon Short, Esq. of Thetford, 
who was Wallace's a^ent in procuring a pension, 
and who had, in behalf of Wallace, transmitted 
the following particulars to the Pension Office at 
Washington. 

It will be recollected by those who are ac- 
quainted with the history of the war of the revo- 
lution, that as soon as the battle was fought at 
Bennington, and the Americans began to hope 
that Burgoyne's army would fall into their hands, 
they set about retaking the forts of Ticonderoga 
and Mount Independence, on the shores of Lake 
Champlain, which forts Burgoyne had left in 
his rear, supplied with troops for their defence. 
Ticonderoga was taken, and Mount Indepen- 
dence was straitly besieged for some time. There 
was a good deal of hard fighting, and it was 
confidently looked for, that Mount Independence 
would surrender ; but they did not. The Brit- 
ish shipping had full possession of the lake. 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 153 

Ticonderoga was upon the west side of the lake, 
and Mount Independence on the east side. Our 
troops on the west side could hold no communi- 
cation with those who had invested Mount In- 
dependence, and of course they could have no 
concert in action. It was at this time, when 
the greatest solicitude was felt by the two 
American commanders to know each others' 
minds, that the following expedient was adopted 
by the commander at Ticonderoga. He called 
on his men to know if there were any two of 
them who would volunteer to swim the lake in 
the evening, and carry despatches to Gen. Lin- 
coln, near Mount Independence. For a time, 
none offered to undertake the hazardous enter- 
prise ; but when informed how much was pro- 
bably depending upon it, Wallace of Thetford 
stepped forward, and said he would attempt it ; 
and then followed him Ephraim Webster, of 
Newbury, who originated in New-Chester, N. H. 
The documents were made out, and about sun- 
down, an officer took these two men on to an 
eminence which overlooked the lake, and he 
pointed out to them the course they must take 
to avoid discovery by the British shipping, and 
then about where they would probably find the 
American camp. At dusk of evening, the same 
officer attended them to the margin of the lake, 



154 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

assisted them to prepare for the voyage, and saw 
them set sail, httle expecting, probably, ever to 
hear from them again ; for as they had to swim 
up and dov\-n the lake, in a zigzag course, to 
avoid the enemy, they must swim more than 
two miles before they could make terra firma, 
and it was so late in the season the water was 
quite cold. They rolled their despatches in 
their clothes, and bound tlieir clothes upon the 
back part of their neck, by cords passing round 
their foreheads and their clothes. As soon as 
they entered the water, Wallace said to Webster, 
'' We shall never reach shore, it is so cold ;" but 
this he said without any thought of relinquishing 
the enterprise. When about midway of the lake, 
the cords which fastened Wallace's clothes to 
his neck slipped down from his forehead to his 
throat, and it cut him so hard as almost to stran- 
gle him. He made several attempts to replace 
the string upon his forehead, but failed, and he 
was on the point of giving up all for lost. The 
thought, howev^er, of the importance of his un- 
dertaking seemed to inspire him with new life 
and vigor, and he succeeded in replacing the 
string, and passed on without saying a word to 
dishearten Webster. They passed so near the 
British shipping as to hear the oft-repeated cry, 
••All's well !" They took no care to contradict 



OF THE COOS COUNTRV. 155 

that report, but buffeted the waves with stout 
hearts and sinewy Hmbs. They kept in com- 
pany until they came near the eastern shore of 
the lake, when Webster seemed to fall into the 
rear, a few rods at the north of Wallace ; and 
just as Wallace struck the twigs of a tree which 
lay extended into the lake, he heard Webster 
say, ''Help, Wallace, I am drowning!" Wal- 
lace sprung to the shore, caught a stick, and 
rushed into the water, and extended it to Web- 
ster in the act of sinking, and drew him ashore. 
Webster could not stand ; but Wallace rubbed 
him briskly, and got on lys clothes, and he soon 
recovered so as to walk. How aptly the poet's 
description of Ulysses, when cast upon the coast 
of Phseacia, will apply to Webster, as drawn 
ashore by Wallace, the reader will judge : 

"From mouth and nose the briny torrent ran, 
And lost in lassitude, lay all the man ; 
Deprived of voice, of motion, and of breath, 
The soul scarce waking in the arms of death." 

Webster was so full of expressions of gratitude 
to Wallace for the preservation of his life, that 
Wallace had to caution him not to speak so loud, 
for the enemy would hear them. 

But new difficulties now presented themselves. 
It was now dark, and they were in a strange 
place. The enemy was near, and had their 



156 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

sentinels on shore as well as the iVmericans. 
And, what was worst of all, they knew not the 
countersign of the Americans on that side of the 
lake. They started, however, in quest of the 
American camp, and after travelling about nearly 
one hour, they were hailed by a British sentinel, 
and did but just make their escape. They then 
took a different direction, and Wallace gave both 
despatches into Webster's hands, and told him 
to keep in the rear, and he would go forward, 
and if he should happen to fall into the hands 
of the enemy, Webster might have opportunity 
to escape with the despatches. But they had 
not proceeded a great ways before Wallace was 
hailed by a sentinel — " Who comes there ?'" '^A 
friend.-' says Wallace. "A friend to whom?" 
says the sentinel. '' Advance and give the coun- 
tersign." This was a fearful moment. Wallace 
hesitated for an instant, and then replied by way 
of question — ''Whose friend are you?" The 
sentinel responded — ''A friend to America!" 
'' So am I," said Wallace, " and have important 
despatches for your general." They were im- 
mediately conducted to the general's quarters, 
the despatches were delivered, and Wallace and 
Webster were received with every mark of sur- 
prise and gratitude, and every thing was done to 
render them comfortable and happy. But Wal- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 157 

lace never enjoyed the degree of health after- 
wards that he did prior to that chill and almost 
incredible effort. Wallace departed this life, 
February 7, 1833, aged eighty. Mrs. Wallace 
died, May, 1831, aged eighty-one. 

Webster's subsequent history is worthy of a 
passing notice. The last time he visited New- 
bury, he was residing among the Oneida Indians, 
New York. They had adopted him as their 
brother, promoted him to be chief in their tribe, 
and, to render the tie indissoluble, they had 
given him one of the black-haired maidens of 
the forest. Webster's health was not perma- 
nently injured by his dangerous adventure. 

The church and people in Thetford remained 
in a divided state more than three years after 
Sumner left them, until Dr. Burton came among 
them, in 1778, at the age of twenty-seven years. 
He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1777, read 
divinity with Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, president 
of the college, until he was licensed to preach 
the gospel, and he then went and read with Dr. 
Hart, of Preston, New London Co., Conn. As 
soon as Dr. Burton came into Thetford, the un- 
happy divisions which had existed among them 
were all dissipated as by enchantment. They 
were all united in him, and all reconciled to 
each other. They gave him a unanimous call 
14 



158 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

to settle with them in the gospel ministry, and 
he was ordained their pastor, January 19, 1779. 

There were fifty- seven families in the town 
when Dr. Burton settled among them. There 
were but two families then living west of the 
present meeting-housoy viz. Richard Wallace, and 
a Mr. Osborn, living near Mr. Wallace. They 
had no meeting-house ; and in the summer they 
held their meetings in a barn, and in a private 
dwelling in the winter. The first meeting-house 
was built of logs, and stood near the place where 
Dr. Solomon Heaton used to live, from half to 
three fourths of a mile north-east of the present 
meeting-house, on the road leading from Thet- 
ford to East Fairlee and Orford. The seats in 
this meeting-house were movable forms, or 
benches, like those often found in school-houses 
for children to sit upon, and they were ranged 
on each side of the house, the ends pointing 
towards one broad aisle in the centre. 

Dr. Burton related, in much good humor, one 
incident which occurred in that house, that was 
of a stirring quality. The doctor had a parish- 
ioner by the name of John Osman, and he was 
an abominable sleeper in the house of God. His 
habit in this was so inveterate as to resist all 
remonstrance. It so happened, on a very warm 
Sabbath in mid-summer, that Osman was seated 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 159 

on the end of one of those benches next to the 
aisle. He was facing the aisle, and, in order to 
find secure repose, he placed his elbows upon his 
knees, folded his arms, and leaned forward ; and 
in this position he fell into a profound slumber. 
The doctor saw him paying his devotions to 
Somnus, by now and then a significant nod and 
a reel of the body, but said nothing to disturb 
his repose. At length, Osman lost his balance, 
and pitched his whole length on to the floor, 
where he lay in the middle of the aisle^ sprawled 
out like a spider ! The shock with the audience 
was electrical. Many sprang upon their feet, and 
some females shrieked out ; but when they saw 
Osman gathering up his limbs in the most delibe- 
rate manner, rubbing his eyes, and scratching his 
head, the transition from surprise to risibility was 
so sudden and powerful, that the impulse was 
irrepressible, and for a few moments the speaker 
himself labored to maintain the dignity and gra- 
vity of his station. But it proved a specific in 
Osman's case, for he was never known to sleep 
in meeting after that event. It might be well, 
perhaps, for some of our modern sleepers at the 
house of God, if they were to descend as low in 
the Valley of Humiliation as Osman did, provi- 
ded their resurrection should be as triumphant. 
At the settlement of the town of Thetford. 



160 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

and for a number of years subsequently to that 
period; bears, deer, and sables were numerous ; 
but we hear of no moose. Joel Strong, of He- 
bron, Conn., came into the town on the 7th of 
May, 1768, and found twelve families in the 
town. He first settled on the bottom lands of 
the Ompompanoosuc, and as soon as he began to 
raise corn, he was exceedingly annoyed by bears 
in his field, devouring his unripe corn. For a 
time he bore these injuries with all the meekness 
which necessity laid upon him ; but seeing in- 
creasing waste and destruction, he arose and 
shook himself, and resolved he would seek re- 
prisal. And now the waxing moon smiled on 
his enterprise. He loaded his gun with two 
balls, took his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, 
and sallied forth to reconnoitre the position of 
his enemies. He had not proceeded far before 
he heard the ears of corn snap from their parent 
stalks, as though there were a husking with the 
Bruin gentry. Strong advanced slowly and cau- 
tiously until he secured a good shot, and then 
he ^' let off," and brought one huge fellow to the 
ground. This was a signal for others to retreat, 
and without looking to him whom he had dis- 
posed of, he pursued the flying foe as fast as his 
legs would carry him ; and two others ascended 
a large tree which stood near the border of the 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 161 

field. It was not sufRciently light for him to 
distinguish his game in the boughs, and he 
struck him up a fire at the foot of the tree, and 
there waited for the return of day. The return- 
ing sun showed him two sleek and lusty fellows, 
sitting in appropriate angles of the tree, formed 
by the union of large branches with the trunk. 
Strong now took deliberate aim at the heart, and 
down came his bearship from a goodly height, 
which made the ground tremble again. With all 
expedition he charged his gun the third time, and 
in a few moments the remaining bear joined his 
comrade upon the ground, and as they had been 
lovely in the eyes of each other in life, so they 
were not divided in their death. Strong was 
now at liberty to visit the one that was slain the 
night before, and he found them all bears of the 
first class, which remunerated him for all previ- 
ous losseS; and their death secured his field from 
further depredations. 

I have said Dr. Burton was ordained, January 
19, 1779. The ministers called to ordain him 
were the following : — Rev. Messrs. Powers of 
Newbury, Conant of Lime, Burroughs of Hano- 
ver, Potter of Lebanon, and Potter of Norwich. 
The last-named gentleman preached the sermon. 
But those who imposed hands, and he who re- 
ceived hands, have alike gone down to the dust. 
14* 



162 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

A new order of things has arisen ; and how for- 
cibly are we impressed with the words of the 
apostle, For ivhat is your life 7 It is even a 
vapor J that appear eth for a little tiine, and then 
vanisheth away. 

But very few clergymen labored longer in 
their profession than Dr. Burton did ; very few 
have been more successful in bringing sinners to 
salvation ; and there are very few whose influ- 
ence has been more extensively realized than 
his. He prepared more than a hundred young 
men for the ministry ; and his Book of Essays, 
published in 1824, is rich iiv ideas, and although 
we may differ from him in our metaphysics, yet 
when men come to pay more regard to ideas 
than to their dress, and when they shall prefer 
thinking to light reading, Dr. Burton will be 
read with profit by every student in theology. 

Dr. Burton departed this life, May 1, 1836, in 
the eighty-fourth year of his age, and in the 
fifty-seventh of his pastoral relation to the 
church and people of Thetford. " The memory 
of the just is blessed.'' 

FAIRLEE. 

Of Fairlee, East or West, I have little to say. 
In 1766, Mr. Baldwin, who is mentioned as 
one of the families settled in Thetford in 1765, 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 163 

moved from Thetford to East Fairlee, and com- 
menced a settlement about a half a mile south 
of the present meeting-house, near where they 
turn off from the river road to go to Fairlee or 
Morey's Pond. Mr. Thompson in his Gazetteer 
dates the settlement of this town in 1768, and 
then he finds six men on the ground to begin 
the settlement. Esquire Mann, of Orford, says, 
Baldwin was his first neighbor west of him, and 
he is sure he came into Fairlee the year after 
Mann came to Orford. They both came from 
Hebron, Conn. Mann knew that Baldwin spent 
a year or so in Thetford, and then came up to 
Fairlee, and he tells us the very spot where he 
commenced. Mann could not mistake in this. 
I find that a new neighbor, in those days, was 
not looked upon as a trivial affair, and the time 
of its occurrence was retained with great accu- 
racy. It ma}^ be there were six men in Fairlee 
in 1768 ; but Baldwin had been there two years 
previous. 

. BRADFORD. 

Bradford was first settled in 1765, by a man 
by the name of John Osmer. He settled near 
the mouth of Wait's River, on the north bank, 
and I have been told there were traces of this 
settlement so late as 1824. This town was ori- 



164 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

ginally called Moretown ; but afterward it was 
changed to Bradford. This Osmer, or Hosmer, 
was a facetious character, and would make him- 
self sport at the expense of others. In 1765, soon 
after Hosmer moved into Bradford, there came to 
his hut a transient Irishman, and spent several 
days, laboring what he would for his board. It 
turned out, however, that the Irishman was deep- 
ly infected with a cutaneous eruption, which in 
some modern languages has been denominated 
''the itch." Osmer, resenting the exposure of 
himself and family to this vile disease, by the 
mtrusion of this Hibernian, resolved on being re- 
venged, and, at the same time, have som.ething to 
relate which would secure him mirth at another 
time. Osmer, accordingly, restrained all appear- 
ance of resentment, and gravely told the fellow 
that he knew a sure remedy for his loathsome 
disease ; but it was a secret, and he did not 
wish to divulge it. The poor fellow became 
very importunate for Osmer to prescribe for liim. 
promising to follow the prescription to the letter, 
and swearing by the blessed Virgin that he would 
never reveal the secret. Osmer at length took 
the man out on to the meadow, where grew a 
forest of nettles, and told him if he would strip 
himself, and run through those weeds, it would 
insure him healing. No sooner said than done. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 165 

Paddy went through them with a lion's heart ; 
but his misery for a time was excruciating. 
This, together with the mortification of seeing 
how well Osmer enjoyed his suffering, opened 
his eyes to the fact that he had been imposed 
upon, and he immediately took up his line of 
march, calling on the Virgin to redress his wrongs. 
But this was not the last of it with Osmer. As 
soon as Osmer's neighbors were made acquainted 
v/ith the fact, they dubbed him Doctor ^ and he 
bore this adjunct title with him to the grave. 

The next year, viz., in 1766, Samuel Sleeper 
and Benoni Wright came into Bradford, and 
pitched their tent a little north-east of Mr. Hun- 
kins' dwelling, in the north part of Bradford, as 
I have already stated in my history of Newbury. 
In 1771, Andrew B. Peters, Esq., born in He- 
bron, Conn., January 29, 1764, came into this 
town. He came with his father to Thetford in 
1766; in 1769, he moved into Piermont ; and 
in 1771, he came into Bradford, at which time 
there were but ten families in the town. 

Esquire Peters relates that the first grist-mill 
in the town vv^as built by John Peters, in 1772, 
and that it stood on the south side of Wait's 
River, just above the bridge on the great river 
road. The first saw-mill was built by Benjamin 
Baldwin, Esq., in 1774, and stood on Wait's 



166 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

River, where Baldwin's mills now stand, or did 
stand, a few years since. Esquire Peters relates 
a long-standing tradition, which went to account 
for the name Wait being given to the principal 
river of Bradford. It states that a man by the 
name of Wait belonged to Col. Rogers' party, 
which marched to the St. Francois in 1759 ; 
that this man and some others, in their hasty 
retreat, came upon the northern branch of Wait's 
River, and in a famishing state, they followed 
down this river in quest of game. Just as they 
entered what is now Bradford, Wait and one or 
two others proposed to go in advance of the 
rest, and see if they could not find something 
to satisfy their hunger. They had not gone but 
two or three miles before they shot a deer, and 
when they had satisfied their appetites, they 
hung up the rest of the savory meat upon a tree 
for the relief of their suffering companions in 
the rear ; and that they might know who killed 
the deer, and for what purpose the meat was 
there suspended, Wait cut his name in the bark 
of the tree on which the meat hung. When 
the rear came up, and found the rich supply of 
food in readiness for them, they expressed their 
gratitude to Wait by giving his name to the 
stream they were then upon, and designed it as 
a remembrancer in all after-time, of the deliver- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 167 

ance which was there wrought for them. There 
is nothing extravagant or unnatural in this nar- 
ration ; and if the town cannot give a more 
satisfactory account of the origin of this name 
to their river, it may stand for the true one. 

About sixty years ago, a Httle son of Absalom 
Fifield, who lived in the easterly part of Corinth, 
strayed from home, and was lost. As is usual 
in such cases, there was a very great excitement 
in the public mind, as well as in the minds of 
the parents, and multitudes went in search of 
the child. They sought for him unremittingly 
three days, and began to despair of the child, 
for they thought he must perish with hunger, 
if he was not already drowned, or devoured by 
wild beasts. But just at the close of the third 
day, he was discovered on an island in Wait's 
River, about five miles from the Connecticut, 
and three miles from his father's. When he 
was discovered, he was in company with a little 
lamb, and was picking tall blackberries, without 
any apparent anxiety. The boy was four or 
five years of age. He and the lamb were the 
only tenants of the island. They had contracted 
a friendship for each other, and the lamb fol- 
lowed in the footsteps of the boy wherever he 
went. But how either of them ever got on to 
the island remains a mystery. 



168 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

The Rev. Gardner Kellogg was the first set- 
tled minister in the town — ordained, 1795 ; dis- 
missed, 1809. The Rev, Silas McKeen was his 
successor ; but I have not the date of his set- 
tlement or dismission. I might here notice 
some of the errors of Thompson's Gazetteer in 
respect to the first settlers : but it is useless. 
There is no end to them. 

PLYMOUTH, N. H. 

I shall now pass into New Hampshire again, 
and state a few particulars in regard to the set- 
tlement of Plymouth, seeing it was one of the 
first towns settled in the county of Grafton, after 
Haverhill. This was the first town settled be- 
tween Haverhill and Salisbury Lower Village. 
I received the following particulars from Samuel 
Dearborn, one of the first settlers, and from the 
Rev. Drury Fairbanks, who consulted the pro- 
prietors' records, and the church records, for my 
assistance. Samuel Dearborn originated in Old 
Chester, April 15th, 1745, and came into Plym- 
outh, September, 1764. The two first families 
which came into the place, were Capt. James 
Hobart and Lieut. Zachariah Parker. They 
came from Hollis, N. H., in June, 1764. Hobart 
married Hannah Cummings, of Hollis, sister of 
the Rev. Dr. Cummings, of Billerica, Mass. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 169 

Parker married Betsey Brown, of Hollis, niece 
of Benjamin Farley, Esq., late of Hollis. Ho- 
bart settled on Col. Edmunds' place, and Parker 
settled where Capt. Moses George did live, and 
perhaps does at this time. In September of 
this same year, (1764,) came Capt. Jotham Cum- 
mings, Col. David Webster, Lieut. Josiah Brown, 
Ephraim Weston, James Blodgett, Deacon Ste- 
phen Webster, and Samuel Dearborn, all from 
Hollis, with the exception of Weston and Dear- 
born. At this time there was no bridge across 
any stream between Plymouth and Salisbury 
Lower Village, and no road but spotted trees. 
The first settlers from HoUis passed over the 
Merrimack into the town of Litchfield, and kept 
on the north side of the Merrimack until they 
came into the town of Holderness, and then 
crossed the Pemigewasset into Plymouth, a little 
south of Baker's River. Some of the early 
settlers of Haverhill and Newbury took the same 
route from Pembroke, kept on the north side of 
Baker's River, into Coventry, and then down 
the Oliverian. 

The proprietors of the town of Plymouth 
voted at Hollis, April 16, 1764, ''to hire Mr. 
Nathan Ward, of Newtown, Mass., to preach to 
the settlers at Plymouth, four days this spring ;" 
this meant four Sabbaths. It appears that the 
15 



170 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

proprietors expected that the settlement would 
be made sooner than it was; but Mr. Ward 
went on with the settlers, and preached the time 
specified, and dwelt with them in their tents, 
Mr. Ward received a call from them, which he 
accepted, and was ordained at Newburyport, in 
the meeting-house of the Rev. Jonathan Pear- 
sons. July 10, 1765. At this time, there were 
but eight families in the town of Plymouth. 
The proprietors voted to give the Rev. Mr. Ward 
one hundred and fifty ounces of silver for his 
salary, until there were one hundred families in 
the town, and then his salary was to be increased 
five ounces annually, until it amounted to tico 
hundred ounces, and at that it was to remain as 
his permanent salary, with thirty cords of wood. 
He drew, also, one right of land, as the first 
settled minister, and they voted him one hundred 
and twenty dollars, as an additional settlement. 
But what was the amount of Mr. Ward's salary ? 
I find in Belknap's History of New Hampshire, 
vol. i. p. 151, in note, that an ounce of silver 
was estimated at six shillings and eight pence, 
lawful money ; and accordingly, Mr. Ward's 
salary at the first was equal to one hundred and 
sixty-six dollars and fifty cents ; and that at the 
last it amounted to two hundred and twenty- 
two dollars, exclusive of the wood. This, at 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 17| 

first thought, was a hmited salary for a minister. 
But upon a more thorough inspection of the 
matter, I think, we shall find it was better than 
most ministers receive at the present day. That 
money would purchase more bread-stuffs, takin- 
one year with another, at that day, than twice"^ 
and perhaps thrice that amount, would purchase 
at this day. They had little, and next to no 
company. Their style of living was all differ- 
ent, and less expensive. Then he had a settle- 
ment, and a full right of land, which was enough 
to make two good farms. And I think we shall 
all agree that there is not a minister in the whole 
county of Grafton at this day, whose means of 
living from the people are as diiiple as were Mr. 
Ward's on the day of his settlement. 

Mr. Ward labored in the ministry in Plymouth 
twenty-nine years; was dismissed, April 22d, 
1794; died in June, 1804, aged eighty-three! 
A man of God, and a great blessing to the town. 
Their first meeting-house was built of logs, and 
stood a little west of the Rev. Jonathan Ward's 
late dwelling-house, at the foot of the hill, east 
of the old meeting-house. 

In April, 1765, Lydia Webster was born, 
daughter of Stephen and Lydia Webster. She 
was the first English child born in the town. 
At this birth, every woman was present in the 



172 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

town, and every husband attended his wife as 
far as the premises, and there remained until the 
vote v/as declared ! This was a great day in 
Plymouth. That child is dead ; but the mother 
was living "with her third husband in Rumney, 
the last I heard from her. She was the wife of 
Joseph Dearborn. Josiah Hobart was the first 
male child born in the town ; but he is dead, 
also. These first settlers went to Concord, N. H., 
for their meal, for one or two years after they 
commenced their settlement, and drew it up on 
a hand- sled ; but they soon raised an abundance, 
for their meadows were very fertile. 

Ephraim Lund built the first saw and grist- 
mill near where Cochran's mills now are. Mr. 
Dearborn says that in 1765, James Heath, from 
Canterbury, Daniel Brainard, Esq., and Alex- 
ander Craig, made settlements in Rumney. Soon 
after, a Mr. Davis moved into Wentworth, and 
Joseph Patch into Warren. Mr. Dearborn says 
he knows that these were the first settlers in 
these towns, but will not be positive as to the 
year they made their entrance. Joseph Hobart 
was the first who settled in Hebron, and a Mr. 
Bennet first settled in Groton. Both of these 
towns were settled by people from Hollis. About 
the same time William Piper came into Holder- 
ness. It was certainly as late as 1765. The 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. l7o 

same year, Isaac Fox and a Mr. Taylor settled 
in Campton ; and Benjamin Hoit from Old Ches- 
ter settled Thornton in 1770. 

Mr. Dearborn says that when Plymouth was 
first settled, and for some years, moose, bears, 
deer, and wolves were numerous. We may re- 
collect that here Capt. Powers and his company 
'' shot a moose," in 1754. Mr. Dearborn relates 
one anecdote of one Josiah Brown, who was 
famous for hunting at that early period of the 
settlement. He was well acquainted with 
Brown. He went out with snow-shoes. Hunt- 
er started some deer, and in the progress of the 
chase the deer crossed the river into New Hampr 
ton, and Brown attempted to follow ; but in 
doing so where there was swift water, he broke 
through, and fell in up to his arms. He labored 
to throw himself on to the ice ; but the water 
had so much power upon his snow-shoes that his 
feet were carried down stream in an instant, and 
he would have to catch hold of the edge of the 
ice to keep himself from being drawn immedi- 
ately under. Finding all his efforts ineffectual, 
and feeling himself nearly exhausted, he began 
to despair of life for more than a few minutes 
longer ; but at this critical moment, who should 
appear but his true and faithful Hunter, who 
came directly up to him ! Brown with one 
15* 



174 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

hand seized Hunter by the tail, and with the 
other he helped himself. Hunter drew for his 
life, and as the ice was rough, so that he had 
good foot-hold, he drew powerfull}^, and they 
hoth were enabled to overcome the force of the 
water, and Brown regained his standing upon 
the ice, happy in the reflection that both he and 
his anticipated game were still at liberty to make 
the best use of their feet. 

Mr. Dearborn tells us an affecting story of a 
lost child in this town, in the time of the revo- 
lutionary war. A Mr. James Barnes sent his 
little son of seven or eight years of age, on an 
errand to a neighbor's ; but he lost his way, and 
did not return at the time he was expected. The 
father went in pursuit of him, but not finding 
him, the neighbors were called on to go in search 
of him ; and as the news spread that a child 
was lost, the whole town came together, and 
very many from other towns in the vicinity, and 
although the search was continued eight days, 
no trace of the child was ever discovered. It is 
very extraordinary, that if this child perished by 
hunger, his remains were never discovered ; and 
if he was drowned, it seems that his body would 
have been ultimately found afloat. But the 
great day will disclose the facts in the case. 

Much has been said in Plymouth and vicinity 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 175 

in respect to the naming of Baker's River. It 
was called Baker's River when the first settlers 
came on, and it was called so in the journal of 
Capt. Powers, in 1754. They have a tradition 
m the town, and they have ahvays had from its 
first settlement, which explains the how and the 
lohci^efore^ in this case. It is said that while 
Massachusetts was claiming the province of New 
Hampshire, prior to the old French war, Massa- 
chusetts sent a Capt. Balder, from Old Newbury, 
at the head of a company to ferret out the In- 
dians, who had their encampment somewhere 
upon the waters of the Pemigewasset. Baker 
procured a friendly Indian, who led them on to 
Plymouth. When Baker and his party had ar- 
rived on these meadows, the friendly Indian 
signified it was now time for every man to gird 
up his loins, and they did so, moving forward 
with all possible circumspection. When they 
had reached the south bank of Baker's River, 
near its junction with the Pemigewasset, they 
discovered the Indians on the north bank of 
Baker's River, sporting in great numbers, secure, 
as they supposed, from the muskets of all ''pale 
faces." Baker and his men chose their position, 
and opened a tremendous fire upon the Indians, 
which was as sudden to them as a clap of thun- 
der. Many of the sons of the forest fell in 



176 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

death in the midst of their sports. But the 
hving disappeared in an instant, and ran to call 
in their hunters. Baker and his men lost no 
time in crossing the river in search of booty. 
They found a rich store of furs deposited in 
holes, dug into the bank of the river horizon- 
tally, in the manner bank-swallows make their 
holes. Having destroyed their wigwams, and 
captured their furs. Baker ordered a retreat, fear- 
ing that they would soon return in too great 
force to be resisted by his single company ; and 
the Indians were fully up to his apprehensions — 
for notwithstanding Baker retreated with all 
expedition, the Indians collected, and were up 
with them, when they had reached a poplar 
plain in Bridge water, a little south of Walter 
Webster's tavern. A smart skirmish ensued ; 
but the Indians were repulsed with loss. Mr. 
Dearborn has visited that plain, and seen and 
examined a number of skulls, which he supposed 
fell in that engagement. One or two of them 
were perforated by a bullet. But notwithstand- 
ing the Indians were repulsed, the friendly In- 
dian advised Baker and his men to use all dili- 
gence in their retreat, for he said their number 
would increase every hour, and that they would 
return to the attack. Accordingly, Baker pressed 
on the retreat, with all possible despatch, and 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 177 

did not allow his men to take refreshment after 
the battle. But when they came into New 
Chester, having crossed a stream, his men were 
exhausted through abstinence, forced marches, 
and hard fighting, and they resolved they would 
go no further without food, saying to their com- 
mander, '' They might as well fall by the toma- 
hawk as by famine." The captain acquresced, 
and they prepared to refresh themselves : but 
here was a call for Indian stratagem. The 
friendly Indian told every man to build as many 
fires as he could in a given time ; for the Indians, 
if they pursued them, would judge of their num- 
ber by the number of their fires. He told them, 
also, that each man should make him four or five 
forks of crotched sticks, and use them all in 
roasting a single piece of pork ; then leave an 
equal number of forks around each fire, and the 
Indians would infer, if they came up, that there 
were as many of the English as there were 
forks, and this might turn them back. The 
Indian's counsel was followed to the letter, and 
the company moved on with fresh speed. The 
Indians, however, came up while their fires 
were yet burning, and counting the fires and 
forks, the warriors whooped a retreat, for they 
were alarmed at the number of the English. 
Baker and his men were no longer annoyed by 



ITS HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

those troublesome attendants, and he attributed 
their preservation to the counsel of the friendly 
Indian. Now, it is said that Baker's River was 
so called, to perpetuate the brilliant affair, by- 
Baker, at its mouth. 

There was formerly another token of the 
presence or influence of a Mr. Baker, not very 
remotely connected with Baker's River. Salis- 
bury was originally chartered by Massachusetts, 
prior to the old French war, and it was called 
Bakerstown. As this was the last chartered 
town in the direction from Massachusetts to- 
v/ards Plymouth, where Baker is said to have 
had his adventure, it would not be very unnat- 
ural for Massachusetts to honor his memory by 
calling this township after him. 

The Rev. Drury Fairbanks was settled in 
Plymouth, January 8, 1800, and was dismissed, 
March 18, 1818. Rev. Jonathan Ward was in- 
stalled, August, 1818, and was dismissed about 
the year 1829, 

I am now prepared to return to Haverhill and 
Newbury, and to relate some events which oc- 
curred there at a later period of their history. 
And as I have a sad tale to relate of the Indians, 
who lived at Coos for many years after the settle- 
ment by the EngHsh, I will here commence it. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 179 

I have already stated the evidence we have, 
that Newbury was an old Indian encampment, 
and that it was with great reluctance the Indians 
yielded up their interest in the Coos. That was 
a fatal step with the Indians, when they con- 
nected their destiny with that of the French ; 
for they became identified with the enemy. 
They were greatly reduced in number, and when 
the French were subdued, the Indians fell with 
them, and they lost their remaining possessions, 
principally in New England. But after the old 
French war, there were some of the St. Francois 
tribe returned to the Coos, and lived until a 
more recent date, when they became entirely 
extinct. 

Among those who returned, there were two 
families of special distinction — John and /oe, or 
Captain John, and Captain Joe, as they pre- 
ferred to be called. John belonged to the St. 
Francois tribe, and had been a chief of some 
note with them. He was at the battle of Brad- 
dock's defeat, and used to relate how he shot a 
British officer, after he had been knocked down 
by the officer ; and how he tried to shoot young 
Washington, but could not. He had repeatedly 
used the tomahawk and scalping knife upon 
the defenceless inhabitants of Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire ; and when he was excited by 



180 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

spirit, he would relate his deeds of barbarity 
with fiendish satisfaction. He related how he 
mutilated a woman by cutting off her breasts, at 
the time of an assault upon the inhabitants near 
Fort Dummer, and he would imitate her shrieks 
and cries of distress. He was present at Bos- 
cawen, N. H., at the time the Indians surprised 
the inhabitants of that place. It must have 
been m 1746, or 1754. He related how they 
took an old woman, and as they found she could 
not travel as fast as they wished to retreat, lie 
stmck her on the head with a tomahawk, and 
he said she made a noise like a calf that is 
wounded on the head. He was a fierce and 
cruel Indian, and was the terror of the boys at 
Coos as long as he lived. He was, however, a 
staunch friend to the Colonies during the war 
of the revolution. He received a captain's com- 
mission, raised a part of a company of Indians, 
and marched with the Yankees against Bur- 
goyne. 

John had two sons — Pi-al, and Pi-al-Soosup,* 
both very different from their father in their 
disposition, being mild and inofi'ensive in their 
deportment. Pi-al-Soosup was in the company 
commanded by Capt. Thomas Johnson, near 
Fort Independence, in 1777, and as it was his 

* French sound of t, like e. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 181 

first essay in arms, he was a good deal terrified 
when the battle commenced, on account of the 
tremendous roar of cannon from the fort and a 
British ship in the lake ; but as the firing from 
the ship and fort went over them, and did not 
much execution, except among the tops of the 
trees, Pi-al became reassured, and turning to 
Capt. Johnson, said, '' Is this the way to fight ?" 
''Yes," said Johnson; ''fire! fire!" "I say," 
said he, '-'this is good fun;" and, raising his 
gun, fired. 

Captain Joe was a young man when he came 
to Coos. He belonged to a tribe in Nova Sco- 
tia ; but when Louisburg was taken, his tribe 
was scattered when he was very young, and a 
remnant, he among the rest, made their way to 
the St. Francois tribe, and he grew up with 
them. This will show that there was some 
connection between the eastern Indians and 
those of the north ; and it confirms the tradition 
with the Indians at Coos, that when their fathers 
heard of Lovewell's fight, they said, " They 
must soon leave Coossuck." Undoubtedly, Co- 
ossuck was the connecting link between Canada 
and all south and east in New England. 

.foe was a very difi'erent character from John. 
He was amiable, and never sought a quarrel. It 
used to be his boast, that he never " pointed the 
16 



i^i HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

gun ;" meaning, at his fellow man. Joe's wife 
went by the name of Molly ^ and she had two 
sons by a former husband when they came to 
Coos. The history of this affair is, that Joe was 
a great favorite among the fair daughters of St. 
Francois^ and that Molly proved unfaithful to her 
first husband, and eloped with her two children^ 
in order to enjoy the society of Joe in the States. 
Her sons^ names were Toomalek and Muxa- 
Wuxal. Muxa-Wuxal died without causing Joe 
and Molly an^^ more grief than they experienced 
iw his loss ; but it was far different with Too- 
malek. He Avas literally a child for the fire. 
He was low in stature, wanting two inches of 
five feet, but had broad shoulders and haunches, 
and possessed extraordinary muscular powers. 
His thick, stiff hair grew down upon his fore- 
head within one inch of his eyes, and his coun- 
tenance was truly fiendlike. He had a murder- 
ous disposition, as the sequel will show. As he 
grew up, he became enamored of a young squaw, 
named Lewa ; but another Indian, named Mitch- 
el, was his successful rival, and married Lewa. 
But Toomalek determined on murdering Mitchel, 
and taking his wife. He accordingly prepared 
his gun, and watched for an opportunity to exe- 
cute the horrid deed. It was not long before 
Toomalek discovered Mitchel and his wife seated 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 183 

by a fire in the evening, at the upper end of the 
Ox Bow in Newbury, at the foot of the hill, just 
where the river turns north. They were seated 
side by side, happy for the present, and happy 
in anticipations, to ail human view. Toomalek 
took aim, and discharged his gun at Mitchel ; 
but Lewa received the ball in her breast, and 
expired that evening. Mitchel was wounded, 
also, by the same ball which killed Lewa, or 
there were two balls discharged ; but he soon 
recovered from his wound. Toomalek was tried 
for his crime by his Indian peers, Old John pre- 
siding, and he was acquitted upon the ground 
that he did not mean to kill Lewa, but Mitchel ; 
and as he did not kill Mitchel, he was no mur- 
derer ! This was making nice distinctions, and 
it shows that these untutored beings were adepts 
in the science of casuistry. But Old John was 
the sole means of his acquittal. 

But Toomalek still cherished a rancorous 
enmity towards Mitchel, and his escape from 
justice, in the first instance, encouraged him to 
m.ake a second attempt upon the life of Mitchel, 
who had taken another wife as attractive as 
Lewa. Toomalek took a bottle of rum and a 
white man, Ebenezer Olmsted by name, and 
went to the wigwam of Mitchel, and commenced 
treating the company. Olmsted observed that 



184 HISTORICAL SKETCIIE.'? 

Toomalek drank but little, whilst Mitchel in- 
dulged freely in his potations. When Mitchel 
began to be excited by the spirit he drank, 
he commenced upbraiding Toomalek for the 
murder of his wife, and for the wound inflicted 
on him. After much crimination and recrimina- 
tion, promoted and aggravated by Toomalek for 
a specific purpose, Mitchel drew his knife upon 
his foe, and made a feeble pass at him. Too- 
malek then drew his knife on Mitchel, and gave 
him his death-wound at once ! For this offence, 
Toomalek had his trial, and was acquitted, be- 
cause Mitchel made the first assault, and Too- 
malek argued that he killed Mitchel in self- 
defence ; yet all were satisfied that Toomalek 
was the sole means of promoting the quarrel, 
and that he did it that he might have an excuse 
for killing Mitchel. 

But Old John, who delighted in blood, was 
still using his influence to preserve the life of 
Toomalek ; and he did it, as Providence over- 
ruled it, to bring upon himself and family a 
terrible calamity — nothing less than the murder 
of his elder son, Pi-al ; and he did it on this 
wise. Toomalek, Pi-al, and several others, were 
over on Haverhill side, and called at Charles 
Wheeler's house, son of Glazier Wheeler, on 
the little Ox Bow, about eleven o'clock in the 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 185 

forenoon. They were disposed to be somewhat 
noisy and turbulent at that time, and manifested 
that they had been drinking spirit. They asked 
for some there, but obtained none. They left 
Wheeler's before noon, and proceeded eastward. 
Sometime in the afternoon, they came along 
near where the old court-house stood in the 
north parish in Haverhill, west of Major Mer- 
rill's house, now Mr. Hibbard's, where they met 
a young squaw from Newbury, who began to 
rally Pi-al on some past acts of gallantry. Pi-al 
returned upon her measure for measure, wliich 
the young lady took in dudgeon. She could 
give, but not receive a joke. Perhaps Pi-al 
jested too near the truth. She turned aside, 
and held a brief conversation with Toomalel':, 
in a low voice, a.nd then passed on. Toomalek 
then stepped back to his companions, and walked 
south by the side of Pi-al; and in a few mo-* 
ments he drew his long knife, and by a back- 
hand stroke, plunged it into Pi-aPs throat, it 
entered at the top of the sternum, and descended 
to the lungs. Pi-al ran with the blood spouting 
from the wound a few rods, and fell lifeless upon 
the ground. It was supposed that in this in- 
stance, Toomalek killed Pi-al in obedience to 
the expressed wish of tlie young squav/ ; but he 
never criminated her. His companions ran and 
16* 



186 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

carried the news of the murder to their English 
neighbors, and Toonialek was taken into custo- 
dy, without resistance, or an attempt to escape^ 
and was carried across the river into Newbury^ 
for his trial the next day. When the news came 
to Old John, that Toomalek had killed his son 
Pi-al, he was overwhelmed with it, and his con- 
science awoke to its duty. He was almost fran- 
tic through agony. He confessed his sin in 
sparing the life of a murderer in the two previous 
instances already stated. He said, God had 
brought this calamity upon him for his sin ; and 
both he and his wife spent the whole night in 
loud lamentations and self-reproaches. 

The next day, in the forenoon, a court was 
called to try Toomalek, and after all the evi- 
dence Vv^as obtained, they unanimously gave 
verdict aga,inst him, and said he must be shot. 
They appointed, however, a deputation to wait 
on the Rev. Mr. Powers, to know whether that 
decision was agreeable to the word of God. 
After hearing the evidence, he told them he 
believed it was, and they immediately set about 
carrying it into effect. By Indian law, Old John 
must be the executioner, as he was the nearest 
by blood to the slain, and he must avenge the 
blood of his son. The ground floor of the old 
court-house, standing opposite the burying ground 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 187 

at the west, was the place designated for the 
execution. Toomalek came to the place him- 
self, without guard or attendance, where John 
stood in readiness with his loaded musket. He 
seated himself upon the floor, said his Catholic 
prayers, covered his eyes, and said — '' Mack 
bence ; " that is, '* Kill me quick ! " John 
stepped forward, put the muzzle of the gun near 
his head, and he was dead in an instant ! Joe 
and Molly were both present at the execution 
of her son ; and as soon as it was over, Joe took 
one arm, and Molly the other, and they dragged 
the body from the house and buried it. Molly 
had mourned and wept bitterly for the death of 
Muxa-Wuxal, which happened the same season ; 
but she never shed a tear over the grave of 
Toomalek, nor was she ever heard to speak his 
name afterward. Old John was afterward found 
dead by the side of a log, at the foot of the 
hill, near the present garden of William Johnson. 
Old Joe ^vas a staunch whig, although he had 
no predilection for war himself. The " red coats" 
had broken up and dispersed his tribe in NoVja 
Scotia, and he never would forgive them. He 
rejoiced in every success of the Colonies. He 
and Molly paid a visit to General Washington, at 
his head-quarters on North River, and he was re- 
ceived with marked attention. It was his boast 



188 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

to the lastj that he had shook hands with Gen. 
Washington, and he and Molly were invited to 
sit at the general's table, after he and the other 
officers had eaten. And so great was his anti- 
pathy to the king of England, that he never 
V7ould enter his dominions after the war. Some 
of his friends of the 4S.t. Francais tribe came 
down to Newbury on purpose to persuade him 
and Molly to return : but Captain Joe would hear 
nothing to it. He would take his huntin2r ex- 
cursions at the extreme north of Vermont, but 
not pass into Canada. He and Molly went to 
Derby one season for a hunt, and built them a 
wigwam. The Indians of St. Francois heard 
of it, and came out and stole Molly, when Joe 
was hunting, and carried her off to their quar- 
ters, in hopes that Joe would follow ; but he 
would not. And having followed a moose two 
days in full expectation of taking him, when he 
came to find that the moose had crossed into 
Canada, he stopped short and said — "Good bye. 
Mr. Moose ! " turned upon his heel, and sought 
his repose in the states. 

Joe and Molly have each a pond called after 
them in the town of Cabot. Joe's Pond empties 
Hself into the Passumpsic by Joe's Brook. Mol- 
ly's Pond discharges its waters into Lake Cham- 
plain b^T* Onion River. Joe survived Molly many 



OF THE coos COUNTRY. 18t) 

years. When he became old, and was unable to 
support himself, the legislature of Vermont voted 
him a pension of seventy dollars annually. He 
spent his last years with Mr. Frye Bailey, of 
Newbury. He departed this life, February 19, 
1819, aged about 79 years. Report made him 
much older than that ; but it could not be true, 
if he was so young at the taking of Louisburg 
that he could not recollect the name of his tribe. 
At his funeral, the principal men of the town 
attended. He was buried in the south-eastern 
corner of the burying ground. His gun, which 
was found loaded after his death, was discharged 
over his grave. His snoiv-shoes are with Mr. 
Frye Bailey. With Capt. Joe fell the last of the 
Indians at Coossuck, that once fairy land of 
long-slumbering generations ! 

We have already spoken of the war of the 
revolution when upon individual character, forti- 
fied houses, and commanders of companies, (fee. 
But these times require more distinct considera- 
tion in these annals, because they form an epoch 
\n our history ; and because they embrace many 
things which serve to develop causes which for 
a long period have lain concealed from general 
observation ; which causes cannot fail to interest 
the descendants of those who bore the burden 



190 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

and heat of the day, in which our independence 
was achieved. The first settlers at Coos sus- 
tained, in common with their brethren, all the 
hardships which were brought on the Colonies 
by the war of the revolution ; and, owing to 
their peculiar circumstances, they were called 
to additional burdens, almost too grievous to be 
borne. They were yet struggling with the pri- 
vations and inconveniences necessarily attendant 
upon new settlements, remote from old towns 
and a ready market. They were frontier settle- 
ments. They were contiguous to the strong- 
holds of the enemy, and were continually exposed 
to their savage incursions. And what was worst 
of all, Vermont was not an acknowledged state, 
although she had often requested to be received 
into the Union. This was owing to conflicting 
claims to these Grants, set up by the states of 
New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. 
No two of them could agree who should have 
them, yet all could agree to oppose in Congress 
the admission of Vermont into the Union as an 
independent state ; and so influential were those 
three states at that time, that Congress did not 
dare to decide contrary to their wishes, although 
they might see manifest injustice in their oppo- 
sition. The British were fully aware of the 
excited state of feeling in Vermont in regard to 



OF THE coos COUNTRY. 191 

this subject, and as Yermont was rejected by her 
sister Colonies, they entertained strong hopes 
that they should detach her from the common 
interest of the Colonies, and bring her to espouse 
the cause of the mother country. To this end 
the British made every possible effort by promises 
and threats. Their scouts traversed the whole 
territory, promising the most liberal rewards to 
all who would befriend them, and threatening 
vengeance upon the lives and property of those 
who should adhere to the interests of the Co- 
lonies. 

Yermont had a difficult part to sustain in the 
grand drama then being acted. She stood be- 
tween two or more fires, and it required all her 
physical powers, and all her finesse, not to foun- 
der in Scylla or Charybdis. The alluring pro- 
mises of the British had actually brought many 
to feel favorably inclined to their cause, and it 
is thought that there were some of this descrip- 
tion in high places. Others would listen to 
these proposals of the British for self-preserva- 
tion ; for now these Grants were left to repel all 
invasions single handed. It was also true that 
tories from other states sought a retreat in the 
Grants, where they were less liable to arrest, and 
where they could with greater facility maintain 
correspondence with the British. And so it was, 



192 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

that the British came in possession of all the 
movements of the Americans, as soon as any 
plan was matured against the enemy. But we 
ought here to state that there were many true- 
hearted Americans in the Grants ; men who were 
ready to sacrifice their property and to lay down 
their lives in defence of their country ; and those 
who took the field did nobly, and, by their heroic 
deeds, they gained the distinctive appellation, 
the Green Mountain Boys, a title which their 
descendants are proud to bear to this da3^ 

The policy which the leading men of that 
day adopted was, not to declare, either that they 
would or would not be independent of the mo- 
ther country ; intending thereby to save them- 
selves from an invasion by the British, and, at 
the same time, to present motives to Congress 
for receiving them into the Union. This was a 
difficult part to perform, owing to the ardor with 
which the British pressed the subject for an im- 
mediate decision ; but it was maintained, and 
Vermont finally seciu'ed her utmost wishes. 

But while these things were transacting, there 
were men, in almost every town, who had ren- 
dered themselves very obnoxious to the displea- 
sure of the British and tories, and they were 
unwearied in their endeavors to get them into 
their hands. The tories were relied upon by 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 193 

the British for those captures, and they were by 
far the most dangerous foe that our men had to 
contend with. They would intrude themselves 
into the families of the whigs under the mask 
of friendship, draw forth the secrets of their 
breast, convey them to the British, and then lead 
on a scouting party to the threshold of their 
neighbor, or, in his absence, kill his cattle or set 
fire to his dwelling in the dead hour of night. 
We can hardly conceive how distressing such 
a state of suspense and watchful anxiety must 
have been during the long period of eight years. 
But Newbury was annoyed by these means far 
more than Haverhill, for those scouts of the 
enemy had not the temerity to cross the river 
well knowing that a retreat would be next to 
impossible. 

There were several men in Newbury who 
had, by their devotion to their country, excited 
the enmity of the British and tories to a high 
degree, and they were resolved on taking them 
One was the Rev. Peter Powers, who had preach- 
ed and done every thing in his power to sustain 
the_ cause of the Colonies, and he had already 
buried his oldest son, Peter, in the army. But 
as I have previously stated, Mr. Powers moved 
on to Haverhill side for his security. Gen. Jacob 
Bailey was another of these men. He was a 
17 



194 HISTOBICAL SKETCHES 

very prominent man at that day. He possessed 
great influence with his countrymen, and the 
Indians looked up to him as a father. He acted 
as quarter-master-general to the troops stationed 
at Newbury and in the vicinity, and the Indians 
were not overlooked in the distribution of the 
daily rations. He retained their friendship dur- 
ing the war. The British felt it so important 
to secure Gen. Bailey, that they offered a heavy 
reward for his person, and many plans were con- 
certed for his capture : but they never succeeded. 
Col. Thomas Johnson was another man whom 
they considered as a notorious rebel, as he had 
distinguished himself at the taking of Ticonde- 
roga and I he siege of Mount Independence, in 
the autumn of 1777. At that time, Johnson 
went out as captain of a volunteer company from 
Newbury ; but he acted, a part of the time, as« 
aid to Gen. Lincoln. When the British surren- 
dered at Ticonderoga, one hundred of the prison- 
ers were given in charge to Col. Johnson, and 
he marched them back into the country, where 
they would not be exposed to a recapture, and 
where they would not diminish the rations of 
our men at the fort. The British, of course, 
were desirous of taking Col. Johnson ; but he 
eluded all their vigilance until the spring of 
1781, when they succeeded in capturing him. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 195 

It was on this wise. Col. Johnson had contract- 
ed to build a grist-mill in Peacham, and when 
he went up with the mill-stones in March, he 
put up at the house of Deacon Jonathan Elkins, 
in Peacham, which house was surrounded in the 
night by some British and tories, was broken 
open, and Johnson, Jacob Page, Jonathan and 
Moses Elkins, sons of Deacon Elkins, were 
taken prisoners. But as I have Col. Johnson's 
journal of this date, it may be more interesting 
to give the journal itself, 

^^ March 5, 1781. This morning early, went 
over to Haverhill with my teams for my mill- 
stones. Returned before dinner, shod my oxen, 
took dinner, and set out for Peacham at 2. P. M. 
This night put up at Orr's, in Ryegate. 

" Tuesday, 6th. This day, being thawy and 
bad going, I was obliged to leave one of my 
mill-stones within one mile of the place where 
we lodged. This night arrived at Peacham 
with the other mill-stone. Lodged at Mr. Elkins'. 

" Wednesday, 1th. This morning, finding 
my oxen lame, I sent Mr, Josiah Page, with the 
oxen, home. Hired Jonathan Elkins, with his 
oxen, and went back, and took the other mill- 
stone, and returned to Peacham. Should have 
returned home myself this evening, but was a 
little unwelL 



196 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

'' Thursday, Sth. This morning, about twelve 
or one o'clock, I awaked out of my sleep, and 
found the house beset with enemies. Thought 
I would slip on my stockings, jump out of the 
window, and run. But before that, came in 
two men with their guns pointed at me, and 
challenged me for their prisoner, but did not find 
myself the least terrified. Soon found two of the 
men old acquaintances of mine. I saw some mo- 
tions for tying me, but I told them that I submit- 
ted myself a prisoner, and would offer no abuse. 
Soon packed up, and marched, but never saw 
people so surprised as the family was. When 
we came to Mr. Davis', I found the party to con- 
sist of eleven men, Capt. Prichard commanding. 
Then marched seven or eight miles, when day- 
light began to appear. I found Moses Elkins 
looked very pale. I told the captain he had bet- 
ter let him go back, for he was drowned when 
he was small, and that he would not live through 
the woods. He said he would try him further ; 
but on my pleading the pity it would be to lose 
such a youngster, he sent him back. We soon 
halted for refreshment. To my great surprise, 
I found John Gibson and Barlow of the party. 
Then marched about four miles, and obtained 
leave to write a letter and leave on a tree, 
then marched. I was most terribly tired and 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. " T 

faint. Camped down on the River Lamci.^e 
this night. 

•^ Friday, 9th. This day marched down .lo 
River Lamoille, about twelve miles below the 
forks. One of the finest countries of land that 
ever I saw. Camped about eleven o'clock at 
night. 

''Saturday^ 10th. This day marched to the 
lake. Underwent a great deal by being faint 
and tired. The captain and men were very kind 
to us. A stormy and uncomfortable night. 

^^ Sunday, 11th. This morning went on to 
the lake ten miles, north of the mouth of the 
River Lamoille; marched fifteen miles on the 
lake, then crossed the Grand Isle ; marched ten 
miles to Point Au Fer. Dinner being on the 
table, I dined with the commandant of that fort, 
and supped with him. Was well treated. 

''Monday, 12th. This day marched to the 
Isle Au Noix, went into the fort, into a baii-ack, 
got a cooking ; but the commandant ordered the 
prisoners out of the fort to a block-house ; but 
soon had sent me a good dinner and a bottle of 
wine. Then Capt. Sherwood called on me to 
examine me. In the evening, Capt. Sherwood 
and Capt. Prichard waited on me to Mr. Jones, 
where we drinked a bottle of wine. Captain 
Prichai'd and I slept there. 
17* 



196 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

''■ Tuesday, 13th. This day marched to St. 
jolin's. Col. St. Leger took me to his house, 
and gave me a shirt, gave me some refreshment, 
w liich I much needed. Told me I was to dine 
with him. Major Rogers and Esq. Marsh and 
others dined there. Then gave me my parole, 
which I am told is the first instance of a prisoner 
having his parole in this fort without some con- 
finement. Lodged with Esq. Marsh. 

" Wednesday, lAth. This morning, Esquire 
Marsh and I were invited to Capt. Sherwood's 
to breakfast. Then Capt. Sherwood took the 
charge of me, and I lived with him. To my 
great satisfaction, this evening came Mr. Spardain 
to see me, who v^ras a prisoner to me at Ti. He 
said, on hearing that I was a prisoner, he went 
to the commandant to inform him of the good 
treatment he and others had from me while they 
were prisoners to me. The commandant sent 
him to my quarters to inform me that my good 
treatment of them was much to my advantage." 

In this same journal, under date of June 14th. 
we have the colonel's impressions from witness- 
ing a Roman Catholic procession, and his views 
of the Canadians. He was at this time at Three 
Rivers. 

^^ June l^th. This day there was a Roman 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 199 

Catholic procession. Their walks, their shows, 
vety extraordinary. Their carrying God Al- 
mighty about the streets is something new ' 
me. I think it is a curse to the land, and a cu, se 
to their king, to have such a miserable set of 
mhabitants as these Canadians. They are the 
most ignorant, superstitious, idle, and careless 
set of people that can be thought of, spending 
half of their time in holidays and going to mass. 
The women wear riding-hoods the hottest wea- 
ther." 

This journal of Col. Johnson will show clearly 
the policy of the British towards different indi- 
viduals of the Grants, treating those of some 
distinction with great urbanity and kindness, in 
hopes of winning them over to their cause, 
and treating others with needless severity. Col. 
Johnson was treated with marked attention dur- 
ing his whole stay in Canada ; but it fared dif- 
ferently with Page and Elkins. Johnson was 
for some time kept at St. John's, and was allowed 
his parole — not a parole to go where he pleased, 
but a parole known in the military profession, 
which distinguishes between friends and enemies 
in camp ; and it is a privilege granted to certam 
individuals every day, and proclamation of it is 
made every day by a certain officer. 



5:00 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Page was sent directly down to Montreal, and 
we never hear of him afterwards. Jonathan 
Elkins was carried directly down to (Quebec, 
and was there imprisoned, and suffered immense- 
iy from want until late in the fall of 1781, when 
he and one hundred and fifty others>were put on 
board a ship and sent to England, where they 
were confined in Mill Prison from February 9, 
1782, till the 24th of June following. They 
had but two thirds the allowance of a common 
soldier, and they were miserably clad, most of 
them. Dr. Franklin, who was then our minister 
at France, hearing of their poor condition, sent 
each prisoner one shilling sterling per week, in 
addition to their allowance from the British 
government, and this was a great relief to them. 
Col. Elkins says to me under his own hand — 
'' There were among us forty captains of vessels, 
and many others who had some learning ; and 
when we got our shilling a week from Dr. Frank- 
lin, it was proposed that we, who had no learn- 
ing, should pay four coppers a week for school- 
ing, and soon many schools were opened. Among 
the rest, I procured paper, pen and ink, and a 
slate, and paid my four coppers per week for 
tuition. By this means, many who could nei- 
ther read nor write, got so much learning, that 
they were capable of transacting business for 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 201 

themselveSj and a number of us learned the 

mariner's art, so as to be capable of navigating 

a ship. On the 24th of June, 1782, there wer€ 

one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three 

prisoners put on board a cartel, and sent to Ame 

rica in exchange for Lord Corn wal lis' grenadier 

and light infantry. And I returned with then 

to my native country. 

"JONATHAN ELKTNS. 

" Peacham, Vt., Dec. 8, 1832." 

We return again to see how it resulted wit 
Johnson. Notwithstanding Johnson was treate.' 
with so much apparent respect, he could not bi;i 
observe that he had his quarters often shiftr' 
from St. John's to Montreal, then to Chambl 
then to Three Rivers, and at each place he wouL i 
be interrogated by different officers relative 
the views and feelings of the inhabitants of tL... 
Grants, and what he thought of the prospe«:i;' 
of the Colonies. To all these and similar 
quiries he replied with as much apparent inc . 
ference to the cause of America as he corad 
show, never relating to them an untruth, tind 
still reserving to himself whatever he thou;;hi 
might be advantageous to them, and detrimei 
to America. And he had cause to congratu' ito 
himself for having adhered to this unifc ' 
course ; for he found out, after a while, that 



302 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

his conversation with these different officers, at 
different places, was penned down and sent to 
the supreme commandant, to be inspected by him, 
to see if his statements agreed. He canght the 
reading of a note, also, which was sent from one 
in high command to the young officer who had 
the charge of him. The purport of it was this — 
'• I take you to be a person of too much sense 
and intelUgence to be imposed upon by the 
prisoner." The young man's sense and intelU- 
gence were not enough to restrain him from 
occasional hard drinking, and at one of those 
seasons, he left this note exposed to Johnson's 
inspection. These things taught Johnson that 
after all their show of confidence in him, they 
were still suspicious of him ; and he thought, if 
they weie disposed to play Yankee with him, 
he would take a game with them at that. He 
accordingly affected more and more indifference 
to tlie cause of the Colonies, until they began 
to feel that if he was in other circumstances, he 
would render them essential service. Accord- 
ingly, after retaining him between seven and 
eight months, they told Johnson that if he would 
give them information of the movements of the 
Americans, supply their scouts with provision if 
called upon, and return to them when they de- 
manded, he might return home upon his parole. 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. :3(.U5 

Johnson assented to these stipulations, and signed 
the following instrument : — 



iC 
■^5 



I, Lieut. Col. Johnson, now at . John's, 
do hereby pledge my faith and word of honor 
to his excellency, Gen. Holdimand, whose per- 
mission I have obtained to go home, that I shall 
not do or say any thing contrary to his majesty's 
interest or government ; and that whenever re- 
quired so to do, I shall repair to whatever place 
his excellency or any other his majesty's com- 
mander-in-chief in ximerica shall judge expe- 
dient to order me, until I shall be legally ex- 
changed, and such other person as shall be agreed 
upon, sent in my place. 

'' Given under my hand at St. John's, this 

fifth day of October, one thousand seven 

hundred and eighty-one. 

" Col. THOMAS JOHNSON." 

Upon Col. Johnson's signing this instrument, 
he returned home to his family at Newbury, 
and neither received any intelligence from the 
British, nor gave any, until January following, 
as we learn from a communication of Col. John- 
son to Gen. Washington, bearing date, May 30, 
1782. In January, Col. Johnson received a let- 
ter from Capt. Prichard, by the hand of Levi 
Sylvester, of Newbury, and one from George 



204 IIISTORIGAL SKETCHES 

Smith, in Canada. In February, 1782, Col. 
Johnson wrote a letter to Gen. Holdimand and 
one to Prichard, and sent them by Sylvester. 
He sent, also, two newspapers containing the 
account of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. A 
copy of those letters was sent to Gen. Washing- 
ton the May following, and a copy of Smith's 
letter to Johnson was also enclosed. Sylvester 
informed Col. Johnson that Major Rogers had 
come into the Grants at the head of a strong 
scout, and was then at Mooretown, now Brad- 
ford, and wished to see him that night ; but 
Johnson was detained, and did not go until some 
days after, and then he did not find Rogers, and 
did not see him at all. 

At this time Col. Johnson, feeling oppressed 
with his peculiar situation, bemg liable, on the 
one hand, to be viewed and treated as a traitor 
by the British, and on the other, to be numbered 
with the enemies of his country, determined to 
communicate to Gen. Washington all he had 
learned in his captivity, all he had done to obtain 
his liberty, and all he had done from the time of 
his leaving Canada, and his motives for doing so, 
and solicit the general's advice in respect to the 
course he had better pursue. He accordingly 
wrote a detailed account^ covering about nine 
pages of common-sized paper, too long to be 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 205 

inserted in these sketches, agreeing, to wonderful 
exactness, with the statement the colonel made 
to me, near the close of life, although he did not 
know at that time that a single line of it was in 
existence, and expressed the deepest regret that he 
had not kept copies of his letters to Washington, 
and of Washington's letter to him. They have, 
however, since come to light, having been found 
among Washington's private papers, and are now 
in the possession of the Rev. Jared Sparks, of 
Cambridge, Mass., and have been by him tran- 
scribed and certified, at the request of Mr. David 
Johnson, of Newbury. This first paper to which 
I allude is an interesting document, and, would 
my limits permit, I should be pleased to give it 
entire to my readers ; but the letter accompany- 
ing, and those which followed, this communica- 
tion, will explain this whole affair, and revive 
many interesting facts which have lain dormant, 
perhaps, in the minds of the aged for many 
years. The letter accompanying the document 
beajs the same date of the document itself, and 
is as follows : 

"tHOS. JOHNSON TO GEN. WASHINGTON. 

" Newbury, 30 May, 1782. 

''May it please your excellency to indulge 
me while I say, that in the month of March, 
i8 



:^0G HISTORICAL SKETCflES 

1781, I was taken a prisoner, as set forth in rar 
narrative, continued in Canada until September; 
when I obtained liberty to return home on 
parole, which I could effect only by engaging 
to carry on a correspondence with them. This 
was my view, to get what intelligence I was 
able respecting their plans and movements, and 
in hopes to be exchanged, that I might be able. 
~m a regular way, to have given some important 
intelligence. I have taken such measures a» 
ap})eared most likely to eifect the same ; but as 
these have hitherto failed, I find the season so 
far advanced as not to admit of further delay 
without acquainting your excellency. 

" The proposed plans of the enemy for the last 
campaign were frustrated for want of provisions ; 
but they determined to pursue them this spring 
as early as possible. To this end, they have 
used their most unwearied endeavors with Ver- 
mont to prepare the way, which they have, in a 
great and incredible degree, brought to pass, and 
is daily increasing ; and unless some speedy stop 
is put to it, I dread the consequences. I entreat 
your excellency, that if possible, by a regular 
exchange, I may be enabled to give all the in- 
telligence in my power without hazarding my 
character, which, otherwise, I am determined to 
do, at the risk of my honor, my all — and, per- 



or THE coos COUNTRY. 207 

haps, to the great injury of hundreds of poor 
prisoners now in their hands. Having had ex- 
perience, I am grieved to think of their situation. 
This infernal plan of treachery with Vermont 
(as I have often heard in Canada) was contrived 
before Ethan Allen left the British, and he was 
engaged on their side. It ran through the coun- 
try Hke a torrent, from New York to Canada, 
and the present temper of Vermont is a piece of 
the same. Were the people in general upon the 
Grants, on this side the mountains, to declare for 
New Hampshire or New York, it would be con- 
trary to the agreement of their leading men : 
and, unless protected by your excellency, the 
innocent with the guilty would share a misera- 
ble fate. This part of the country being sold 
by a few designing men, of whom a large 
number are very jealous, a small number have 
by me their informer, or otherwise, got the cer- 
tainty of it, and it puts them in a most disagree- 
able situation. They are desirous of declaring 
for New Hampshire ; but many of their leaders 
earnestly dissuading them from it, it keeps us in 
a tumult, and I fear the enemy will get so great 
an advantage as to raise their standard to the 
destruction of this part of the country. They 
keep their spies constantly in this quarter with- 
out molestation, and know every movement, and 



'20S HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

transmit the same directly to Canada ; and when 
matters take a turn contrary to their minds, Ave 
are miserably exposed to their severest resent- 
ment. I am entirely devoted to your excellency's 
pleasure. Should my past conduct meet your 
excellency's approbation, my highest ambition 
will be satisfied ; if not, deal with me as your 
wisdom shall dictate. I most earnestly entreat 
your excellency to meditate a moment on my 
critical and perplexing situation, as well as that 
of this part of the country, and that I may re- 
ceive by Capt. Bailey, the bearer, who will be 
able to give you further information, your excel- 
lency's pleasure in this affair. I beg leave to 
subscribe myself your excellency's most sincere 
and most devoted servant, 

"THOS. JOHNSON.'^ 

Col. Johnson stated in this letter what he 
verily believed to be true of the men in the 
Grants, who were carrying on a correspondence 
with the British. He viewed it just as it was 
viewed by the British, and he had no means of 
knowing any thing to the contrary ; but it ulti- 
mately appeared that some of these men, who 
were considered friends to the British, were play- 
ing a deep game, in which the British, the 
Continental Congress, and themselves, were dis- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 20U 

linct parties. These men were determined that 
Vermont should be a distinct and independent 
community, like the other states ; but as Con- 
gress would not receive them, and had withdrawn 
their troops that had been sent for their defence, 
they managed as they could with the British to 
preserve the Grants from invasion. There is no 
doubt but the British Avere completely deceived 
by them, and Ethan Allen procured an engage- 
ment, on the part of the British, that no hostili- 
ties should be carried on against Vermont. The 
principal men in this understanding were Thomas 
Chittenden, Moses Ptobinson, Samuel Safford. 
Ethan Allen, Ira Allen, Timothy Brownson, Johiv 
Fasset, and Joseph Fay. But at the same time, 
the British correspondence with them was trans- 
mitted to Congress, by these men, to operate as 
an inducement for Congress to receive them into 
the Union, and Ethan Allen wrote to Congress 
in the following bold and impassioned language : 
— '' I am as resolutely determined to defend the 
independence of Vermont, as Congress are that 
of the United States, and rather than fail, will 
retire with the hardy Green Mountain Boys into 
the caverns of the mountains, and wage war 
with human nature at large." But surely there 
was enough seen and heard in Canada, at the 
time CoL Johnson was prisoner there, to make 
IS* 



210 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

any friend of his country tremble for the con- 
sequences. But we have Gen. Washington's 
answer to Col. Johnson's letter of the 30th 
May, 1782. 

** To Capt, Thomas Johnson^ Exeter, N. H. 

<f Sir <• Head-Quarters, 14 June, 1782. 

" I have received your favor per Capt. Bailey, 
and thank you for the information contained, 
and would beg you to continue your communi- 
cation whenever you shall collect any intelli- 
gence you shall think of importance. It would 
give me real pleasure to have it in my power to 
effect your exchange ; but some unhappy cir- 
cumstances have lately taken place, which, for 
the present, cut off all exchaiige. If you can 
fall upon any mode to accomplish your wishes, 
in which I can with propriety give you my 
assistance, I shall be very glad to afford it. 
'• I am, sir, &c. 

**G. WASHINGTON." 



*' THOS. JOHNSON TO GEN. WASHINGTON. 

" Exeter, July 20, 1782. 

** I am obliged by your excellency's favor of 
the 14th June, to acknowledge your excellency's 
goodness in offering your assistance in my ex- 
change, I think it proper to give a more parti- 



OF THE COOS COUNTRV. 211 

cular account of my situation, and have enclosed 
a copy of my parole for your perusal. I think, 
agreeable to the parole, they cannot refuse a 
man in my room, although there is no exchange 
agreed on. Your excellency will determine on 
my rank. I was held at Canada a lieutenant- 
colonel in the militia. I was a captain, and 
afterwards chosen a lieutenant-colonel in the 
militia, agreeable to the order of the Assembly 
of New York ; but being at a great distance, 
before my commission could reach me, Vermont 
claimed jurisdiction, and I never had the com- 
mission, and I told them the same ; but I was 
obliged to acknowledge myself as such in my 
parole, or I could not have accomplished my 
design. My situation grows more distressing. I 
have been exposed by the infirmity or impru- 
dence of a gentleman, one that we could not 
have expected it from. I have received nothing 
of much importance since my last. I have since 
received a confirmation of their intentions to 
execute rigorous measures against the opposers 
of Vermont. I have fears of an invasion on that 
part of New Hampshire by the imprudence above 
mentioned. I have fears of the correspondence 
being stopped ; have wrote to Canada : since 
which, by agreement, Capt. Prichard was to 
meet on Onion River, the 10th of this instant. 



212 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Private concerns brought me here at this time. 
If suspicion don't prevent, I expect something 
of importance waiting for me ; should it pre- 
vent, shall stand in the greatest need of a man 
to send in exchange for me. 

^' I am, sir, your most humble servant, 

"THOS. JOHNSON." 

We have another letter from Col. Johnson 
to Gen. Washington, dated at Atkinson, N. H., 
September 20, 1782. This is a letter of four 
pages, and as it differs not materially from the 
two former, I omit it in these sketches. 

I give place to a letter of Meshech Weare to 
Gen. Washington on the subject of Col. John- 
son's peculiar circumstances. This Mr. Weare 
was governor of New Hampshire in 1784. 

^•MESHECH WEARE TO GEN. WASHINGTON. 

ic gjj, "Hampton Falls, Nov. 25, 1782. 

*' The bearer, Col. Thomas Johnson, of whose 
conduct with respect to procuring intelligence 
from the enemy, your excellency has been in- 
formed, now waits on you to communicate some 
things which appear to be important. From 
every information I have been able to obtain, I 
have no reason to suspect his honesty or fidelity. 
His situation at this time is very difficult, as he 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 213 

will fully inform you, and requests your assist- 
ance in such way as you may think proper. I 
cannot help expressing my fears of what may 
be the consequence of the negotiations carrying 
on between Vermont and Canada, of which there 
seems now to be scarce a doubt. 

'•'I have the honor to be, with the greatest 
respect, yours, &c, 

" MESHECH WEARE." 

We have one other interesting letter on this 
subject. It is from Nathaniel Peabody, of At- 
kinson, N. H. Mr. Peabody was a member of 
the council in New Hampshire in 1785, and 
subsequently a member of Congress. 

"nATH. peabody to gen. WASHINGTON. 

"Atkinson, State of New Hampshire, 
Nov. 27, 17S2. 
^^ Sir — I take the liberty to address your 
excellency respecting the unhappy situation of 
Lieut. Col. Johnson, of Newbury, Coos, who will 
take charge of this letter, and do himself the 
honor to wait on your excellency in person. CoL 
Johnson is desirous of giving to your excel- 
lency every information in his power, relative to 
the situation, strength, and designs of the enemy 
at the northward, the embarrassed state of affairs 



214 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

in the country where he lives, and more particu- 
larly the ineligible circumstances in which hii 
own person, family, and domestic concerns are 
unhappily involved. 

•• I have no doubt he hath been ungenerously 
deceived, injured, and betrayed by some persons 
with whom he found it necessary to intrust cer- 
tain secrets, to him of great importance, and 
from whom he had a claim to better treatment. 

'•' The latter end of last month I received a 
letter from Col. Johnson, the contents of which 
he will make known to you ; and I should have 
then done myself the honor of transmitting the 
same, with some other information, to your ex- 
cellency ; but on a conference I had with the 
president of this state, it was concluded that in- 
trusting aftairs of that nature by common post- 
riders would be unsafe for the public, and dan- 
gerous for Col. Johnson, and that it was inexpe- 
dient to despatch an express on purpose, as it 
was adjudged probable your excellency had such 
a variety of other channels for information, that 
there was little prospect of giving new and im- 
portant intelligence. From the best information 
I have been able to obtain, my own observation, 
and the personal knowledge I have had for some 
years past, of Col. Johnson, I am led without 
hesitating to conclude that he is a faithful and 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY, 



215 



sincere friend to the independence of these United 
States ; that he would contribute every thing in 
bis power to promote the political salvation of 
this, his native country : and that he is a gentle- 
man on whose declaration your excellency may 
place full dependence. 

'' I have the honor to be yours, «fcc. 

''NATH. PEABODY." 



Tlie above have been copied from the originals 
now in my possession. ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ 

Cambridge, Se;pt. 17, 1835. 



There is nothing on paper to show the result 
of Col. Johnson's interview with Gen. Washing- 
ton ; but it is well known with what feeling 
and' interest the colonel related the particulars 
of that interview until the close of life. It is 
not probable that Gen. Washington was at that 
time in circumstances to effect an exchange of 
prisoners, so as to set Johnson at liberty, nor 
does this seem to be the main object of his visit ; 
but he obtained the full approbation of Wash- 
ington, and enjoyed his sympathies, as he had 
previously expressed in his letter. But the treaty 
of peace, which was signed on the 20th of Janu- 
ary, 1783, in less than two months after Col. 



216 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Johnson's visit to Washington, set Johnson at 
liberty, dissipated all anxieties, and conveyed 
peace and independence to the states. 

I have given place to the preceding documents 
for two reasons : one is, they give the present 
generation a more lively and distinct idea of the 
trials and dangers which the inhabitants of Coos 
sustained in the revolutionary struggle, than any 
general history of those times gives, or can 
give ; the other is, to do justice to the injured. 
All know what aspersions were heaped upon 
Col. Johnson for the part he was said to per- 
form at that eventful period, and what pain it 
inflicted on him through life, although conscious 
of innocence in respect to those charges. He 
supposed time and Providence had forever de- 
prived him of the means to demonstrate his inno- 
cence ; and under this apprehension, he resigned 
this life, January 4th, 1819, aged seventy-seven 
years. But it seems that Providence designed 
ultimately to refute all those charges ; and what 
God undertakes is thoroughly done. If ever 
mortal man was vindicated in any supposed case, 
and his character set above all suspicion, that 
man is Col. Thomas Johnson, touching his patri- 
otism in the day that tried men's souls. 

I have already stated how desirable an object 
it was with the British to get in possession of 



OP THE COOS COUNTRY. 217 

Gen. Jacob Bailey. A bold and determined 
effort to effect this was made on the 17th of 
June, 1782, while Col. Johnson was at home on 
parole. Gen. Bailey lived at the Johnson vil- 
lage, in a house where now stands the brick 
house of Josiah Little. Capt. Prichard and his 
scout, to the number of eighteen men, lay upon 
the heights west of the Ox Bow, and they made 
a signal for Col. Johnson to visit them. Johnson 
went, as he was bound to do by the terms of his 
parole, and he learned that they had come to 
capture Gen. Bailey that evening. Johnson was 
now in a great strait. Bailey was his neighbor, 
and a host against the enemy, and Johnson could 
not have him go into captivity ; and yet he must 
seem to conform to the wishes of Prichard, or 
he would be recalled to Canada himself, and hi 
all probability have his buildings laid in ashes. 
Johnson returned to his house, and resolved to 
inform Bailey of his danger, at the hazard of 
every thing to himself But how was this to 
be done? Bailey, with two of his sons, was 
ploughing on the Ox Bow. Prichard's elevated 
situation on the hill enabled him to look down 
upon the Ox Bow as upon a map. The secret 
was intrusted to Dudley Carle ton, Esq., the bro- 
ther of Col. Johnson's wife. Johnson wrote on 
a slip of paper this laconic sentence— '' The 
19 



218 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Philistines be upon thee. Samson !" He gave it 
to Carleton, and instructed him to go on to the 
meadow, pass directly by Bailey without stop- 
ping or speaking, but drop the paper in his view, 
and return home by a circuitous rout. Carleton 
performed the duty assigned him well. Gen. 
Bailey, when he came to the paper, carelessly 
iook the paper and read it, and as soon as he 
could, without exciting suspicion in the minds 
of lookers on, proposed to turn out the team, and 
said to his sons, " Boys, take care of yourselves !'■ 
and went himself down to the bank of the river. 
and the sons went up t'* the house, to carry the 
tidings to the guard that was stationed there. 
The guard consisted of Ct*pt. Frye Bailey, com- 
mandant, Ezra Gates, Jacob Bailey, Jun., Joshua 
Bailey, Sergeant Samuel Torrey, a hired man 
of Gen. Bailey, three boys — John Bailey, Isaac 
Bailey, and Thomas Metcalf — and a hired maid, 
Sarah Fowler. 

Although the guard was apprised of the gene- 
ral's apprehensions, yet it would seem they 
thought his fears were groundless, for they were 
taken by surprise at early twilight, while they 
were taking their evening grog ; or, we might 
more significantly say, perhaps, that they were 
taking in a freight of prowess to be tested at a 
later hour of the night. The enemy were not 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 219 

discovered until they were within a few rods of 
the front door. Sergeant Torrey met them at 
the door, and levelled his piece at them ; but 
Prichard knocked aside the gun, made Torrey 
liis prisoner, and the enemy rushed in. The 
guard dispersed in all directions. Ezra Gates 
was wounded in the arm by a ball, as he ran 
from the south front door, and a gun was dis- 
charged at John Bailey, as he was jumping the 
fence to run for the Ox Bow, and two balls 
lodged in the fence close to him. Thomas Met- 
calf reached the meadow, where he tarried all 
night. Gates was brought in and laid on the 
bed, where he lay bleeding and groaning, whilst 
the enemy were searching the house for prison- 
ers and papers. 

But there was one belonging to the house, 
who displayed great presence of mind and intre- 
pidity. It was woman ! woman, who, in ten 
thousand instances, has risen superior to danger, 
and performed astonishing deeds of heroism, 
when man, her lord by constitution, has forfeited 
his claim to superiority by timidity and flight ! 
Sarah Fowler, the servant-maid spoken of, re- 
mained upon the ground with a babe of Mrs. 
Bailey in her arms, undismayed at the sight a( 
loaded muskets and bristling bayonets, and re- 
peatedly extinguished a candle, which had been 



220 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

lighted for the purpose of searching the house.. 
Not succeeding with a candle, one of the party 
took a firebrand, and attempted to renew the 
search ; this the dauntless maid struck from his 
hand, and strewed the coals around the room. 
This was too much for British blood : and one 
of the soldiers swore, by a tremendous oath, that 
if she annoyed them any more, he would blow 
out her brains, showing at the same time how 
he would do it. She then desisted, as she had 
good reason to believe he would execute his 
threat. 

Mrs. Bailey had, at the moment of the onset, 
escaped through an eastern window, and lay 
concealed in currant bushes in the garden. The 
enemy, having destroyed one gun. and taken 
what papers they could find, commenced their 
retreat, greatly disappointed in respect to the 
main object of their pursuit, for the general was 
resting securely on Haverhill side. They took 
with them prisoners, Gates and Pike, the hired 
man of Gen. Bailey, and proceeded south. An 
alarm was given, but not in time to arrest the 
enemy. About a half a mile south, they met 
James Bailey, son of Gen. Bailey, whom they 
took prisoner, and kept until the close of the 
war. They took also Pelatiah Bliss, who lived 
near where Harry C. Bailey now lives. Bliss 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 221 

wljined and cried, and made so mucli ado about 
his wife and babes, and exhibited so many 
symptoms of a weak mind. that, after consulta- 
tion, they permitted him to escape. They called 
at one other house, Andrew Carter's, drank all 
the pans of milk the old lady had. and then pro- 
secuted their march into Canada, to report the 
failure of their expedition. " But,'' says CoL 
Elkhis, of Pcacham, in his letter of December 7', 
1832, "this failure of the British, iii the main 
object of their expedition, brought fresh trouble 
U[X)n CoL Thomas Johnson. The tories in thtt 
vicinity, who had laid the plan for taking Gen. 
Bailey, learning that he was not at home that 
night, and knowing that he was not in the habit 
of being absent from his family over night, un- 
less on business out of town, said at once, John- 
son was a traitor to their cause, for he must have 
given Bailey information of his danger. This 
rumor went Vv'ith the party back to Canada, and 
produced strong sensations of jealousy and ^^.- 
sentment there. Johnson was now the man to 
be obtained, and his buildings were to be de- 
stroyed by fire the next spring, if not before. 
But tiie disposition to peace in the mother coun- 
try, and the actual treaty before the year came 
about, saved Johnson from the calamities threat- 
ened upon him.'' 
10* 



2*22 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

From this time the people of Goos moved on 
in the even tenor of their way to ease and inde- 
pendejice in their circumstances. But even at 
the late period of which we have been speaking.. 
1 one-horse pleasure carriage had never been 
seen at Coos. The first that was ever seen in 
Newbury, was brought into the place by a Rev. 
Mr. Goddard, who was preaching as a candidate 
to the people there, after the dismission of the 
Rev. Mr. Powers. He rode up to Gen. Bailey 's„ 
as he came into town, in a chaise or sulkey 
There was living at the general's a young miss, 
who happened to be in at a neighboring house 
to visit an aunt^ at the time Mr. Goddard passed. 
So strange a vehicle greatly excited her curi- 
osity, and she called out to her aunt, ^' O, come 
here, aunt ! come here, and see a man riding in 
a cart with two tongues !" On horseback in 
summer, and in sleighs in winter, were the only 
methods of riding at that day. 

I have previously said that Haverhill and New- 
bury were never one ecclesiastical society after 
the dismission of the Rev. Mr. Powers. The Rev. 
Jacob Wood was the successor of Mr. Powers 
in Newbury. He was ordained on the second 
Wednesday m January, 1788 ; departed this life, 
February 10, 1790, aged 33. Rev. Nathaniel 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. ^I'^-i 

Lambert was ordained, November 17, 1790 : 
dismissed, April 4, 1809. Rev. Luther Jewett 
was ordained, February 28, 1821 ; ceased to 
officiate, February 3, 1825 ; dismissed, February 
19. 1828. Rev. Ciark Perry was ordained, June 
4. 1828 : dismissed, June 15, 1835. Rev. George 
Campbell was installed, January 27, 1836, and 
remains their pastor. Let us hope for a long, 
successful, and happy union. 

From the time Mr. Powers closed his labors 
at Haverhill, the people enjoyed but little preach- 
ing until the year 1790. There was no organ- 
ized church in Haverhill, as they had belonged 
to Newbury church, and there were but two 
males, members of Newbury church, who be- 
longed on Haverhill side, viz. Col. Charles John- 
ston and the Hon. James Woodward. The 
prospects of Haverhill were at that time very 
gloomy in respect to religion, and for nine months 
preceding the spring of 1790, there had not been 
a sermon preached in the place. But in the 
spring of that year, a melancholy death of a 
woman occurred in the house now occupied by 
Capt. Uriah Ward, which seemed to impress all 
minds with solemnity. She had lived far from 
righteousness, and died in great agony of soul 
in view of her endless ruin. And now the pre- 
cious grain, sown by the Rev. Mr. Powers, which 



224 HISTORICAL SKETCnES 

had Iain buried long, being watered by the dews 
and rains of divdne grace, and warmed by the 
vivifying rays of the Sun of righteousness, be- 
gan to germinate and to appear, to the great joy 
of those few who had waited and prayed for 
consolation in Israel. The holy and blessed 
Spirit seemed to come down upon them as a 
rushing, m.ighty vv^ind ; and it was but a short 
time before there was but one house, from the 
Dow farm to Piermont line, in which there was 
no special awakening with the occupants. That 
house was at the Avers' place. In all other 
habitations there were wailings for sin. People 
pressed together for prayer and instruction, and 
cJergym^n, hearing of the wonders of God at 
Haverhill, came to obtain and to impart a bless- 
ing. The Rev. Dr. Burton, of Thetford, and 
Rev. Dr. Burroughs, of Hanover, were peculiarly 
helpful, and their labors are remembered with 
gratitude to this day by those who obtained the 
]>earl of great price, and still survive. During 
that season, more than seventy persons became 
hopeful subjects of renewing grace. And al- 
though that church and people have witnessed 
repeated revivals of religion with them since 
that period, yet the elders among the people have 
never witnessed, as they think, the power of 
divine grace in equal degree. I have myself, 



OF THE COOS COUNTRY. 225 

while rejoicing with the newly converted m that 
place, and feeling that we witnessed great things, 
been reminded of the different feelings that were 
experienced by the Jews at Jerusalem, at the 
laying of the foundation of the second temple, 
on their return from captivity, when I heard the 
old saints speak of what they had witnessed. It 
will be recollected that the younger Jews, who 
had never seen the first temple, rejoiced greatly 
m the prospect of having a temple for worship. 
The older Jews rejoiced also ; but when they 
contrasted their then present circumstances with 
what they had been in the glory of the first 
temple, for a time grief preponderated in their 
breasts, and there was a mixed shout of joy and 
grief. So it has repeatedly been at Haverhill. 
The converts of 1790 have ever been disposed 
to meditate on the power of divine grace of that 
year ; and although they could rejoice in the day 
of small things, yet they have longed to see one 
more day of the right hand of the Most High. 

On the i3th of October, 1790, the church was 
first organized. Rev. Dr. Burton, Rev. Dr. Bur- 
roughs, and Rev. Mr. Ward, of Plymouth, offi- 
ciated. Twenty-two members constituted the 
church at its organization. Rev. Ethan Smith 
was their first pastor. He was ordained, January 
25, 1792, and continued their pastor a little more 



226 HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

than seven years; dismissed, June 23, 1799. 
The Rev. John Smith succeeded Mr. Ethan 
Smith, and was ordained, December 23, 1802, 
and continued their pastor a Uttle more than four 
years ; dismissed, January 14, 1807. From this 
time to January 4, 1815, the church and eccle- 
siastical society had no pastor, nor had they 
uninterrupted preaching, but had many candi- 
dates and occasional preaching. And here we 
hav€ a melancholy exhibition of the mutable 
state of every church on earth. The church 
that was so flourishing in 1792, was reduced in 
July, 1814, at the time when I commenced my 
labors among them, to twelve members in the 
south parish, — three males, and nine females, — 
and a covering of sackcloth was spread upon 
the tent of Zion. But eight persons within the 
limits of the parish had made a public profession 
of religion for the last twenty-two years. Two 
were received under the Rev. Ethan Smith, from 
1792 to 1799 ; two under the Rev. John Smith, 
from 1802 to 1807 ; and four under the Rev. 
David Sutherland, of Bath, their moderator, from 
1807 to 1814. In the same time there were one 
hundred and eight baptisms, four of whom were 
adults. 

In the autumn early of 1814, the people be- 
gain again to flow together to hear the word of 



OF THE COOS COUNIEY. 227 

life, and a still, small voice was heard by many, 
saying, This is the way — walk ye in it. Many 
obeyed tiiat voice. It was impressively true, 
that the Lord did not advance, in this instance, 
in a "great and strong wind," nor in the earth- 
quake," nor in the "fire;" but his coming was 
as the ushering in of day. The first evidence 
of the King's presence was seen in the profound 
stillness which reigned in the worshipping as- 
sembly, and the fixed attention of the hearer. 
Christians began to feel that they were newly 
anointed from on high, and they prayed with 
tenderness and fervor, and sinners would drop a 
tear, when pointedly addressed upon the con- 
cerns of their souls. Soon we were told that 
this one, and that one, were deeply anxious for 
their spiritual interest. And these instances were 
multiplied until very many were pricked in heart, 
and would inquire to know what they must do 
to be saved. In a short time, some began to 
rejoice in hope ; and this solemn and joyful state 
of things continued through the remaining part 
of 1814, and more or less through 1815. On 
the 4th of January, 1815, I received ordination, 
and before the close of that year, I think, more 
than sixty were added to the church ; some be- 
came pillars, and remain so to the present day, 
although some have fallen asleep. 



228 HISTORICAL sketches 

In 1822, we were blessed with another revi- 
val, but not so extensive as the former. Some 
were called and added to the church in 1826 ; 
and at the close of my ministry in this place, — 
which occurred, April 28, 1829, nearly fifteen 
years after I came among them, — there had been 
added to the church one hundred and nineteen 
members. There had been one hundred and 
ninety-one baptisms, thirt^^'-five of whom were 
adults. 

The Rev. Henry Wood was installed their 
pastor, December 14, 1831, and was dismissed, 
March 3, 1835. The Rev. Joseph Gibbs was 
ordamed their pastor, June 16, 1835, and depart- 
ed this life, April 11, 1837. Rev. Archibald 
Fleming was installed, June 27, 1838, and still 
remains their pastor. 

With my best wishes and my pmyers for their 
mutual prosperity and final salvation, I close 
these Sketches. 

Your much obliged and ever grateful friend, 

GRANT POWERS. 



APPENDIX. 

The two following anecdotes were originally written for 
newspaper publication ; but the publishers of the Historical 
Collections of New Hampshire, learning through the late 
Jesse Worcester, Esq., of Hollis, the historical accuracy of 
the two pieces in point of fact, adopted them both, as I have 
understood, into their Collections. But as comparatively few 
will ever read them in those Collections, and as the writer 
of the present Sketches was the author of those two commu- 
nications, he feels that he has an undoubted right to append 
them to this work ; and when we consider the peculiar agency 
and interest the two individuals, who are the hero and heroine 
in the anecdotes, had in the discovery and settlement of the 
Coos, we cannot but feel that our readers will be gratified in 
the perusal of those adventures. The writer often heard the 
aged widow of Capt. Powers relate the facts as here stated ; 
the language is, of course, his own. 



THE BOAR AND THE BEAR. 
The town of Hollis, in the county of Hillsborough, N. H., 
is one of the oldest towns in the county, and was first settled 
by Capt. Peter Powers and Anna, his wife, from Hampshire 
Dunstable, in 1831. Those early settlers were accustomed to 
the rearing of many swine, by permitting them to run at large 
in the woods, and to subsist upon roots, acorns, and nuts, 
which were produced in great abundance in the place. In 
the fall of the year, or at the time of the first deep snow, the 
older members of the herd, that were originally tame, would 
lead their numerous progeny into winter quarters, at a shed 
erected for that purpose some distance from the house, where 
the owner disposed of them as he pleased, although many of 

20 



230 APPENDIX. 

them were as untame and as ferocious as the beasts of the 
mountains. At that time, bears were plenty, and very hostile 
to swine. It became necessary, therefore, to provide for the 
defence of the herd by permitting one of the males to live 
several years beyond the period of life ordinarily assigned ta 
that species by man ; at which time he became literally the 
master of the fiock. His tusks protruded on either side, in 
nearly semicircles, to the distance of six or seven inches. He 
seemed conscious of his superiority and responsibility. He 
^as fierce in the extreme, and courted danger ; and when the 
herd was assailed, he instantly presented himself to the foe, 
with eyes darting fire, with tusks heated to blueness, and 
foaminp" at the mouth in a terrific manner. He roamed the 
forest, unconscious of danger ; he led the herd ; and but few 
of the untamed tribes had the temerity to dispute his title to 
supremacy. 

It happened, however, on a certain day in autumn, when 
Anna stood in the door of her cabin, listening to the oft- 
repeated sound of the descending axe, or the crash of falling 
trees, while her husband was at his daily task, that she heard 
from a great distance the faint, yet distinct, cry of one of their 
herd. She thought it was the cry of expiring nature. She 
remained in this state of suspense but a short time, before the 
herd came rushing from the forest in the greatest apparent 
trepidation. The oldest dams of the herd, much exhausted, 
and without their common leader and protector, seemed in- 
clined to take refuge in the apartment which had been their 
retreat in former v/inters ; but the younger brandies of the 
family would not follow them. The dams, seeing this, dashed 
on through the cleared space, and disappeared in the forest 
on the north side. The cries of the wounded were still heard, 
but grew fainter and fainter, until wholly lost in death. But 
the anxious Anna had not removed from her position, before 
the old boar came rushing through the bushes in eager pursuit 
of his charge, which had eloped and left him in the rear by 
many a rood. He was fresh from the field of combat. He 



APPENDIX. 231 

was bathed in blood, foaming at the mouth, gnashing his 
tusks, and exhibited a terrific aspect. Regardless of home, 
he approached a field of corn which grew near the cabin, and 
leaped the fence, not touching the topmost knot, although it 
was proof against horses which strayed through the woods 
from neighboring towns in Massachusetts. He passed di- 
rectly through the field without touching a kerne! of corn, 
and leaping the fence on the opposite side, disappeared in the 
woods. Not long after, the wished-for husband, whose pre- 
sence the gathering shades of evening, the deep solitude of 
the place, and the stirring events of the afternoon, had ren- 
rlered peculiarly inviting to the young partner of his toils and 
hopes, returned with his axe upon his shoulder, enlivening 
the forest with his evening whistle, and driving his old bell- 
cow before him, which summoned Anna with her milk-naii to 
'her evening task- 
Scarcely had he secured the topmost rail to his yard enclo- 
sure, when Anna from the window of her cabin saw her 
husband held in anxious suspense. For some moments he 
paused and listened ; but turned and called, *' Anna, Anna, 
bring me my gun and ammunition in a minute, for the Old 
Master himself is worsted," They were at his hand in a 
trice. *' Look to yourself," said the husband,* and bounded 
into the forest. Pursuing with great speed the course whence 
the sound proceeded, which alone broke the silence of the 
evening, our adventurer soon found himself at the distance 
of about a mile and a half from his cabin, surrounded with 
black alders, so thickly set as to be almost impenetrable to 
man and beast. Before him lay Long Pond, so called, about 
one mile in length, and from a quarter to a half a mile, per- 
haps, in width. He was near midway of the pond, and the 
sound from the laboring boar and his antagonist (a mixed, 
frightful yell) proceeded directly from the opposite shore. 
Nothing now remained but for him to plunge into the pond, 

** ladians were then numerous in the town. 



232 APPEN-DIX. 

and make the opposite shore by beating the waves, or to divide 
him a passage amidst the alders around one of the extremities 
of the pond, which could not be done short of travelling the 
distance of another mile. But no time was to be lost. The 
cries of the boar bespoke the greatest need, and the latter 
course was adopted ; and in a space of time, and with the 
courage and energy which are scarcely conceived by the 
present generation, he arrived at the scene of action. Whose 
heart does not now misgive him, while nearing the battle 
ground, alone, in darkness, and all uncertain as to the nature 
of the foe ? But young Powers advanced with undaunted 
firmness. He was under the necessity of approaching near 
to the belligerents before he could make any discovery, by rea- 
son of the darkness of the night, rendered more dark by the 
towering trees, which mingled their branches at some sixty 
or seventy feet from the ground, and a dense underwood, 
which stood like a hedge continually before him. But as 
soon as he entered the area which had been beaten down 
during the action, he discovered the boar seated upon the 
ground, and still defending himself against the furious as- 
saults of the hugest bear his eyes ever beheld ! She was like 
his old bell-coic for magnitude ! He drew his gun to an am, 
when he perceived, obscurely, that the bear was on a line 
with him and his hog, and he could not discharge his piece 
without putting the life of the latter in jeopardy ; and, as he 
was moving in a circular direction, to procure a safe discharge, 
he was discovered by the bear, and she bounded into the 
bushes. Powers now came up to the boar, and witnessed 
Buch tokens of gladness as surprised him. It was, however, 
too solemn an hour with the swine to lavish upon his deliverer 
Unmeaning ceremonies. As soon as he found himself released 
from his too powerful antagonist, he prostrated himself upon 
the ground, and lay some time, panting and groaning in a 
manner truly affecting to his owner. Powers now discharged 
his gun, with a view to terrify the beasts of prey, and keep 
them off during the night. He struck and kindled a fire, 



APPENDIX. 



233 



and upon a slight examination, he found that his hog was 
lacerated in his rear in a shocking manner. He was utterly 
disabled from rising, except upon his fore feet. But to show 
the indomitable nature of the animal, I will relate that the 
boar, after some little time, recovered in a degree from hie 
extreme exhaustion, and gaining the same position he had 
when his owner found him, began to beat a challenge for a 
renewal of the combat. Again his eyes flashed with rage, 
Jie stamped with his fore feet, he chafed, gnashed with his 
tusks, and foaming at the mouth, he looked around with the 
greatest apparent firmness for his antagonist. Our adven- 
turer now drew together fallen wood sufficient to support a 
fire through the night, burnt powder around his swine, an<: 
returned to his cabin, where he was never more joyfully 
received by the young wife, who, during all this while, hau 
remained listening at the window in painful solicitude. 

The next day, some help was obtained, as one family* had, 
prior to this, moved in and settled in the south-west part of 
ihe town, and the battle ground was revisited. The boar had 
not moved out of his place, hut was still weltermg in his 
blood. With much labor he was conveyed home in a cart, 
and, as he never could becom.e the defence of the herd again, 
he was yarded, fattened, and killed, and helped by his death 
10 promote that existence to the family which he could no 
longer do by his life. 

With a view to account for the melancholy fate cf the 
boar. Powers and his associates v/ent in search of the swiinf 
that was destroyed in the afternoon of the preceding day. 
They found one of their largest hogs slain by a bear, and, 
near to, a large bear was as evidently slain by the boar. From 
this they inferred that the first hog was mortally wounded by 
a bear in the absence of the boar ; but the cries of the 
wounded soon brought the Master^ when a battle ensued, in 
which the bear was slain, not, however, without loss cf blood 

* Eleazer Flagg. 

20* 



234 APPENDIX. 

with the boar ; that during this first action, the rest of the 
herd fled, and that the boar was in pursuit of them when be 
passed the cabin through the field ; that after running some 
miles, at the point of exhaustion, he fell in with a still more 
powerful antagonist, when his fight was comparatively feeble^ 
and he fell overpowered^ but not subdued, as it has fallen out 
with many a Greek and Roman hero. 



AN ADVENTUROUS VISIT. 

When Capt. Peter Powers and Anna, his wife, first pitched 
their tent in Hollis, 1731, which was a little north-west of 
the present meeting-house, the traces of which are still visi- 
ble, their nearest neighbor lived in the south-eastern part of 
Dunstable, N. H., a distance, probably, at this time, often 
miles, and could not be made at that period at a less travelling 
distance than twelve miles, as they had no road but a single 
track, and spotted trees for their guide. 

This journey could not be made in the summer season 
without fording the Nashua, which was done a little south- 
east of a small island, visible at your left, as you now pass 
the bridge, going from Hollis, N. H., to Dunstable, Mass. ; 
and here the river was fordable only when the streams were 
low. Of course, these lonely adventurers made their visits 
but seldom, and never with a view to be absent from their 
habitation during the night, as they were then the parents 
of two children, whom they were necessitated to leave at 
home, in a cabin surrounded with Indians. Indeed, never 
did both parents leave their children and perform this rout 
in company. 

Now, it happened on a summer's morning, in the month 
of August, that the wife, Anna, found it convenient to visit 
her neigkbar, and mounting at an early hour a fine Narra- 
ganset, a faithful and tried companion in adventures, the river 



APPENDIX. 235 

was soon forded; and the whole distance was made, long ere 
it was high noon. The interview was such as characterized 
the first settlers in this new country, where warmth of affec- 
tion more than supplied the place of a thousand ceremonies, 
and a sense of dependence prompted to the discharge of 
kinder offices than mere refinement would recognize as obli- 
gatory on her. 

The hours passed swiftly away — they lived fast — they ate, 
they drank, they talked much, and blessed God and their 
king. Nor did a single occurrence tend to interrupt their 
festivity until about three past meridian, when all were 
suddenly aroused by a distant, though heavy, discharge of 
heaven's artillery. All rushed to the door to witness the 
aspect of the elements, when, lo ! it was most threatening 
and appalling! Nature all around slept, or seemed to be 
awed into a deathlike silence. Not a leaf moved but when 
the foundations of the earth responded to the voice of heaven. 
Already, from north to sonth, the whole western horizon was 
mantled in black, and the gathering tempest moved forward 
as slowly and sublimely as though conscious of its power to 
deride all resistance ! Not until this moment did anxious 
concern possess the breast of Anna for the objects of her 
affections, whom she had left in that lone, dear cell. In a 
kind of momentary distraction, she demanded that Narragan- 
set should be pannelled, for she must return to her family that 
afternoon, whatever might be the consequences to herself. 
She had rather brave the tempest returning, than endure her 
forebodings with her sheltered friends. But a sudden change 
m the elements did more to dissuade her from so rash an at- 
tempt than the entreaties and expostulation of her friends. 
From an apparent calm, nature now awoke and seemed to be 
rushing into ruin. As though the north called unto the south, 
and the west unto the east, the four winds came on to the 
conflict. Clouds were driven hither and thither in angry 
yelocity, and all seemed to be propelled in directions counter 



236 APPENDIX 

to each other. The tempest soon burst upon them, and on 
the whole adjacent country, in an unparalleled torrent. No- 
thing was heard but the crack or roll of thunder, and the roar 
of winds and waters — nothing seen but the successive blaze 
of lightning ! 

" Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether." 

The said Anna lived until rising somewhat of ninety years, 
and could remember distinctly more than eighty years ; but, 
in all this time, she never witnessed such a scene, nor could 
she relate any thing which seemed to raise such sublimity 
of feeling iTi her mind as this. 

The tempest lay upon them with unabated force several 
hours, nor did it appear to spend itself until the sun was just 
Kinking below the horizon, when it broke in upon drowned 
nature in all its smiles, and reflected its golden beams upon 
the black cloud at the east, in the most enchanting manner. 
This was the moment for Anna to renew her resolve of re- 
turning to her family that night ; and, contrary to all reason- 
ing and persuasions, she instantly put it in execution. She 
mounted her horse, and bidding adieu to her friends, she 
entered the twelve-mile forest just as the sun took his leave 
of her. She calculated upon a serene and star-light evening, 
and the extraordinary instinct of her beast, as well as her 
experience in the way and at the fords. But in regard to the 
former, she was wholly disappointed. The wind soon shifted, 
and rolled the same cloud back again ; the rain recommenced 
as the night set in, and the wind ceased. 

At that season of the year, the time of twilight was short ; 
the earth being warm and moistened, evaporation was rapid, 
and a dense fog arose, which scon obstructed vision, and, long 
ere she arrived at the fords, she was enveloped in total dark- 
ness. Her only guide now was her faithful Narraganset, and 
the beasts of the forest her companions. She, however, made 
the best of her circumstances. She entered into conversation 



APPENDIX. 237 

with her mare, as was her custom when riding alone ; and 
when her beast stopped suddenly and tossed up her head, and 
snorted at some wild animal crossing her track, as was sup- 
posed, Anna would exliort her to possess courage, assuring 
her " that nothing could harm her, for the beasts were mere 
cowards in the presence of a brave horse," &c. 

After this manner, the long way to the fords was passed 
over in Egyptian darkness ; nor had the thought once oc- 
curred to Anna that so considerable a river as now rolled 
before her would be materially affected by a thunder storm 
of a few hours ; whereas, so great was the fall of water in 
this time that the river, although wide at this place, was 
bank full, and swept on with great rapidity. Nor could the 
rushing of the waters be heard by reason of the rain still 
pouring upon the forest around her. She therefore deter- 
mined to give the rein to her experienced beast, believing 
that she would keep the ford, and land her on the opposite 
shore at the proper place. The horse entered the stream as 
soon as at the bank, and in a moment lost her foot-hold on 
terra firma, and was plunging in the waves at a full swim. 
Such, however, was Anna's presence of mind, that she made 
no exertion to rein her beast, but endeavored simply to retain 
her seat, which was now under water, whilst the waves beat 
against her waist. The faithful animal made for the opposite 
shore ; but so strong was the current, that she was either 
carried below the ford, or, in her exertions to resist it, she 
overacted and went above it, where, at one sweep of her fore 
feet, she struck upon a rock in the bed of the river, which 
suddenly raised her somewhat from the water forward ; but 
she as soon plunged again, for the rock was cleared the 
second sweep. This plunge was so deep that Anna was 
borne from her pannel by the gravity of the water ; but 
pitching forward, she seized Narraganset's mane as she roee, 
nor did she quit her grasp, until they were both safely landed 
on the happy shore I — Adjusti'ng her clothes, she remounted, 



238 APPENDIX. 

and soon found that her beast was in her accustomed track, 
and, in little more than one hour, she alighted at the door of 
her peaceful cabin, where, by her well-known signal,* she 
broke the slumber of her husband and babes, and on entering 
related, in no purer gratitude or greater joy than they expe- 
rienced in hearing, the result of that adventurous night. 

* Capt. Powers and wife agreed on a peculiar rap, which served 
as a kind of countersign to inform the one within that the other 
bad arrived and desired admission. This was necessary to prevent 
the intrusion of Indians, who would often rap at different hours of 
the nisjht. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Bailey, Gen, Jacob, . . .36, 53, 

193, 194, 217—220 

Bailey, Col. Joshua, 51 

Baker's River, 175—178 

Barnes, J., lost son, 174 

Bradford, Vt 163—168 

Brook, Poole, 47 

Brown, Josiah, 173 

Burton, D. D. Rev. Asa, . .84, 

92—96, 137—143, 157— 

159, 161, 162 

Canipton, 173 

Cart with two tongues, . . .222 
Chamberlain, John,. .144,145 

Charters, 48 

Clareraont, 132 

Connel, John Mc, ..115—118 

Cornish, 132 

Cow, instinct of a, . . . .90 — 92 

Crank, saw-mill, 70 — 73 

Dearborn, Samuel, . . 168 — 174 

Eastman, Amos, 14 

Elkins, Col. Jonathan, ..195, 

200, 221 

Elkins, Dea. Jonathan, ... .53 

Fairlee, East, 162, 163 

Fifield's, A., lost son, . . . .167 

Flood, 112—114 

Freeman, Col. Otis, 79 



Page. 

Foreman, John, 51 

Groton, 172 

Hanover,. . . .79—81, 132, 135 

Harriman, Polly, 47 

Hazen, Capt. John,. 36, 37, 43 

Hebron, , 172 

Hobart, Capt. James, . . . .168 

Holderness, 172 

Howard, Col. Joshua,. .44, 46 

Howard, Deacon, 82 — 84 

Hughs, John, 44 

Indians, 175 — 189 

Instinct of a Cow, 90—92 

Johnston, Capt. Michael, ..46 
Johnston, Col. Charles,. . .46, 
92, 96—105 
Johnston, Michael, . .37, 40, 45 
Johnson, Col. Thomas, . . 48, 
180, 181, 194—221 

Kent, Col. Jacob, 50 

Kent, Mary, 50, 51 

Ladd, Hon. Ezekiel, 53 

Ladd, Mrs. Ruth, 61, 62, 68, 69 

Lancaster, 49 

Lebanon, 132 

Living and Dress, . .120—122 

Lyme, 132 

Mann, Esq., John,. .127— 130 
Morse, Uriah, 46 



St40 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Norwich, Vt., 137-144 

Orford, 127 

Osmer, John, 163 — 165 

Ox Bow, Great, old Indian 

settlement, 37 — 40 

Page, John, 49, 70—73 

Parker, Lieut. Z 168 

Peabody, Nathaniel, 213 

Peters, Esq., Andrew B. . .165 

Pettie, John, 37, 40, 45 

Pierraont, 122 

Pigeons, 110, 111 

Plainfield, 132 

Plymouth, 105, 163—178 

Plymouth, first ox-team 

from, 118,119 

Powers, Capt. Peter, .15—32, 

86—89 
Powers, Rev. Peter,. .54—58, 

77—99 

Revivals, 223—225 

Rogers, Col. Robert,. . .34, 35 

Rumney, 172 

Sleeper, Samuel, ..41,62—65 

Sparks, Jared, 215 

Stark, Gen. John, 13, 14 



Page. 

Strong, Joel, 160, 161 

Thanksgiving, 75 

Thetford, Vt., 144—162 

Thornton, 173 

Tyler, Jonathan,. . . .122— 126 

Wait's River,...-. 166 

Walbridge, 79—81 

Wallace, Mrs 149—151 

Wallace, Richard,. . . .93—96, 
115—121, 146—157 

Warren, 172 

Washington, Gen.. .204— 215 
Ward, Rev. Nathan, .169, 170 

Way, Mr 57,58 

Weare, Meshech, .212 

Webster, Ephraim, . .153—157 

Webster, Lydia, 171 

Wentworth, 172 

Wheeler, Charles, 184 

Wheeler, Glazier, 41, 44 

WiUard, Oliver, 42,43 

Woodward, Hon. James,.. 49, 
65—72 

Worms, 105—108 

Wright, Benoni, 63, 64 



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